[IP] Judge closes courtroom after MPAA/DVDCCA claim CSS is a "trade secret"

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
Date: April 24, 2009 6:52:20 PM EDT
To: dave@farber.net
Subject: Judge closes courtroom after MPAA/DVDCCA claim CSS is a  
"trade secret"

Dave,

A San Francisco federal judge kicked the public out of the courtroom  
about an hour ago after MPAA and DVD-CCA attorneys claimed information  
about CSS is a trade secret:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10227195-38.html

This might come as a surprise to anyone who's ever visited Dave  
Touretzky's Gallery of CSS Descramblers, including photos of CSS on t- 
shirts, ties, and even (sigh) haiku:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/DeCSS/Gallery/

CNET objected, telling the judge that CSS was publicly available, that  
the 9th Circuit has specific procedures that must be followed before a  
courtroom may be closed, and that if there's a question about closure  
being necessary, MPAA/DVD-CCA should file a proper motion and give our  
lawyers time to respond.

It didn't work. We're reviewing our options (we did litigate to keep  
documents unsealed in the Facebook case last year: http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9983222-7.html) 
.

Thought IPers would be interested...

-Declan





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