[dvd-discuss] DeCSS - the saga continues

["James S. Tyre" <jstyre(at)jstyre.com>]

In DVD Copy Control Ass'n v. Bunner, the CA state court trade secrets case, 
DVDCCA now has filed its Petition for Review in the CA Supreme Court, 
seeking to overturn the Court of Appeal's decision reversing the trial 
court's preliminary injunction, on the ground that the injunction was a 
prior restraint of speech.  Not surprisingly, DVDCCA makes much of the 
Second Circuit's recent decision affirming the trial court in Universal v. 
Reimerdes, the 2600 case.  Interesting read.

http://www.eff.org/ip/Video/DVDCCA_case/20011204_petition_for_review.pdf

...

"This trade secret case with national implications addresses the
fundamental question of whether the owner of an acknowledged trade
secret can obtain a preliminary injunction to prevent individuals from
destroying the trade secret through widespread' disclosure. In the face of
well-established law permitting injunctions to protect intellectual property,
the Court of Appeal reversed the preliminary injunction granted by the
Superior Court because it held that the First Amendment' s prior restraint
doctrine prohibits the use of an injunction to prohibit expression. Because
any trade secret can be communicated by expression, the Court of Appeal' s
decision improperly eviscerates the only effective remedy historically
available to protect a trade secret that has been stolen. The result is not
only inequitable, it is also inconsistent with California' s economic welfare
and two centuries of precedent under which injunctions protecting
misappropriated intellectual property from further dissemination have
peacefully co-existed with First Amendment principles. The Court of
Appeal' s decision applies the First Amendment in a blunderbuss manner
wholly inconsistent with governing authority and the decisions of numerous
courts.
II. ISSUES PRESENTED FOR REVIEW
1. Whether the injunctive relief provisions of the
California Uniform Trade Secrets Act (Civ. Code $ 3426, et seq. (1984))
(the "California UTSA"), are unconstitutional as applied to the facts of this
case.
2. Whether the issuance of a preliminary injunction to
stop the dissemination on the Internet of a computer program that
knowingly contains stolen trade secrets violates the First Amendment."

....


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James S. Tyre                               mailto:jstyre@jstyre.com
Law Offices of James S. Tyre          310-839-4114/310-839-4602(fax)
10736 Jefferson Blvd., #512               Culver City, CA 90230-4969
Co-founder, The Censorware Project             http://censorware.net