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

["Glendon M. Gross" <gross(at)xinetd.com>]

 From J. Baxter's dissenting opinion:

 >Pavlovich’s immediate aim, he
 >acknowledged, was to promote development of alternative DVD playback 
 >systems not dependent on CSS licensure. However, he also knew CSS was 
 >intended to afford crucial copyright protection to DVD movies. He has 
 >denied any personal desire to pirate movies, or to encourage others to 
 >do so. But by deciding to display the DeCSS source code without 
 >restriction on the universally accessible Web site, Pavlovich offered 
 >visitors to the site the patent opportunity to exploit this
 >information as they chose.


I think it is unfortunate that DeCSS is still being played out as though
copy protection circumvention were the issue instead of merely wanting 
to be able to play one's legitimately purchased media on a Linux or UNIX 
box.   I sure am glad that the DVD CCA lost in this case, but the 
dissenting view shows many of the same misconceptions that have 
dominated the dialogue to date. Far too little emphasis has been given
to the infringement on the rights of consumers, bordering on false 
advertising, which results from selling disabled products.  My own 
losses in this area amount to about $50., since I still want my
DVD player to be able to play the DVD's I have.  Now I discover that
under Windows XP Professional you can't play DVD's without purchasing a 
$40. software package.  It's almost enough to cause me to reformat the 
drive and install a UNIX-like operating system so I won't have to take 
the losses on DVD products I have already purchased but can't use.  I 
refuse to buy a DVD player as long as the DVD CCA is suing programmers 
who innovate.

It's really anti-American, in my view.  Technological innovation has 
always driven this country, but silly lawsuits have made it harder for 
programmers to share their source code.  We need to protect our freedom 
under the first amendment, including freedom to share source code as it 
is very close to sharing conversation.   We shouldn't be hauling people 
into court for innovating!


Regards,

Glendon Gross



James S. Tyre wrote:
> Sorry, wrong link for the .doc file, that should be
> http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/S100809.DOC
> 
> At 01:57 PM 11/25/2002 -0800, James S. Tyre wrote:
> 
>> 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.
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 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
> 
> 
>