[IP] EFF: Johansen Verdict Appealed by Norwegian Prosecutors

[Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Advisory

For Immediate Release: Monday, January 20, 2003


Contact:

Shari Steele
   Executive Director
   Electronic Frontier Foundation
   ssteele@eff.org
   +1 415 436-9333 x103

Halvor Manshaus
   Attorney
   Advokatfirmaet Schjødt AS
   halvor.manshaus@schjodt.no
   +47 22 018800


Johansen Verdict Appealed by Norwegian Prosecutors

Electronic Frontier Foundation Defends Viewing Own DVDs

Oslo, Norway - Norwegian government prosecutors today
submitted an appeal of the case against Jon Johansen, a
teenager who again faces criminal charges for helping to
write and publish a DVD descrambling program. Johansen used
the program called DeCSS to watch his own DVDs on his Linux
computer.

Johansen's attorney Halvor Manshaus, of the lawfirm Schjødt
AS, provided the following statement:

"It is correct that the prosecution has decided to appeal
the court ruling in this case. This is not unexpected, as
the prosecution has flagged this as a case of principle
interest. The appeals court, Borgarting lagmannsrett, may
decide not to grant the appeal, as there is a screening
principle for criminal cases. If the appeal is granted, this
means that there will be full proceedings before the appeal
court on all aspects of the case, i.e. both factual evidence
and legal arguments. I am positive with regard to the final
outcome of the case."

"The lower court ruled unanimously that Johansen did not
violate Norwegian law," said Electronic Frontier Foundation
(EFF) Executive Director Shari Steele. "Johansen did not
violate any copyrights and Norway doesn't have a Digital
Millennium Copyright Act that could prevent DVD owners from
viewing their own DVDs on their own computers as we have
here in the United States."

For this advisory:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/DeCSS_prosecutions/Johansen_DeCSS_case/20030120_
eff_pr.php

More on the Johansen case:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/DeCSS_prosecutions/Johansen_DeCSS_case/

Information on related DVD CCA cases:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/DVDCCA_case/


About EFF:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil
liberties organization working to protect rights in the
digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and
challenges industry and government to support free
expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported
organization and maintains one of the most linked-to
websites in the world at
http://www.eff.org/

                            -end-






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