RE: [dvd-discuss] Matt Pavlovich WINS in Cal. Supreme Court

["Richard Hartman" <hartman(at)onetouch.com>]

If he assumed the code was illegal, then I would hold

him liable because he intentionally aided an act that

he, himself, thought was not legal. 

 

If he assumed that the code was legal (due to it's reverse

engineered origin) then I would not hold him liable.

 

Unfortunately it sounds like he has already stated that

he thought the code was "probably illegal"...

 

--
-Richard M. Hartman
hartman@onetouch.com

186,000 mi/sec: not just a good idea, it's the LAW!

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael A Rolenz [mailto:Michael.A.Rolenz@aero.org]
Sent: Monday, November 25, 2002 2:34 PM
To: dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu
Cc: dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu; owner-dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu
Subject: Re: [dvd-discuss] Matt Pavlovich WINS in Cal. Supreme Court

It's a win but not a WIN as you point out...

From the Judgement:

"In addition, we are not confronted with a situation where the plaintiff has
no other forum to pursue its claims and therefore do not address that situation.
DVD CCA has the ability and resources to pursue Pavlovich in another forum
such as Indiana or Texas. Our decision today does not foreclose it from doing so.
Pavlovich may still face the music-just not in California."

From the dissent. THey still buy the BS about trade secret approproation by "improper reverse engineering"

DVD CCA immediately filed suit in California superior court against
defendant Matthew Pavlovich, 20 other named individuals, and 500 Does for
misappropriation of trade secrets. The complaint alleges the following: As early
as October 25, 1999, Jon Johansen, a resident of Norway, posted on the Internet a
computer program, dubbed DeCSS, that defeats CSS encryption. DeCSS was
derived by -willfully 'hacking' and/or improperly reverse engineering software
created by- a CSS licensee. Around the time Johansen posted the DeCSS
program, the same information appeared on a Web site -operated by-Pavlovich.
The defendants who posted or provided Web site links to this information knew or
should have known DeCSS was derived from the misappropriation of proprietary
information, because DeCSS was specifically designed to defeat CSS and was
aimed at infringing movie copyrights by permitting the "pirating" of movies on
DVD's.

<snip>

He knew CSS was a trade secret, available only by a
license his LiViD project had specifically declined to obtain. He also assumed the
DeCSS source code posted on the LiViD Web site had been derived by illegal
means, and was an infringement of the proprietary information represented by
CSS. DVD CCA's lawsuit, alleging that the Web site posting was an infringement
of the CSS trade secret, thus " 'arises out of or has a substantial connection with' "
his conduct aimed at this state. (Vons, supra, 14 Cal.4th 434, 452.)

"James S. Tyre" <jstyre@jstyre.com> Sent by: owner-dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu 11/25/2002 01:57 PM Please respond to dvd-discuss

To:        dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu         cc:                 Subject:        [dvd-discuss] Matt Pavlovich WINS in Cal. Supreme Court

http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/S100809.PDF

or

http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/C038912.DOC

4-3 decision today, it does not get closer, but a win's a win, whether 4-3
or 7-0.

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