[IP] Re: 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 29, 2009 1:46:15 AM EDT
To: dave@farber.net
Subject: Re: [IP] Judge closes courtroom after MPAA/DVDCCA claim CSS  
is a "trade secret"

Dave,

Here's an update on the MPAA/DVDCCA case in San Francisco:

CNET expected the MPAA/DVDCCA attorneys to renew their request to kick  
the public out of the courtroom on Tuesday, so we asked our outside  
First Amendment counsel, Roger Myers, to attend. Roger let the judge  
and attorneys from both sides know he was present and that he was  
prepared to object to a motion to seal the courtroom.

Perhaps as a result, the attorneys representing Hollywood were careful  
to phrase their questions to witnesses so they didn't get into trade  
secrets:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10229474-93.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10229124-93.html

On Wednesday, though, RealNetworks is planning to call a rebuttal  
witness who will try to respond to the supersecret points the DVDCCA
witness made about the CSS algorithm on Friday in closed session. My  
guess is that's when the request to close the courtroom, if it is made  
at all, will arise.

-Declan


David Farber wrote:

> 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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