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Re: [dvd-discuss] DeCSS - the saga continues
- To: <dvd-discuss(at)lweb.law.harvard.edu>, <cyberia-l(at)listserv.aol.com>
- Subject: Re: [dvd-discuss] DeCSS - the saga continues
- From: "Andy Oram" <andyo(at)oreilly.com>
- Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 09:02:46 -0500
- References: <4.3.2.7.2.20011211183206.00b1bab0@earthlink.net>
- Reply-to: dvd-discuss(at)cyber.law.harvard.edu
- Sender: owner-dvd-discuss(at)cyber.law.harvard.edu
I can understand why, if I obtain trade secrets through improper means and
publish them, I might be in violation of the owner's rights. (And copyright
law now makes reverse engineering "improper means" for anti-circumvention
technologies.)
Suppose I reverse-engineer an anti-circumvention measure for the purpose of
creating a competing product. (Allowed by the law.) Suppose this
anti-circumvention measure is a trade secret. Can I be sued for "revealing"
the trade secret because it's embodied in my competing product? That's even
less subject to First Amendment protection!
Maybe this is an idle inquiry, but who knows.
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