DVD CCA TO APPEAL OVERTURNED DECSS INJUNCTION
Cal. Supreme Court will be next setting for effort to corral DeCSS program that hacks DVD’s Content Scrambling System for copy prevention. DVD Copy Control Assn. (DVD CCA) said Fri. it would go to state’s top court to appeal Nov. 1 decision by Cal. appellate court to overturn trial court’s preliminary injunction that prohibited individuals from posting DeCSS code on their Web sites.
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In unanimously reversing preliminary injunction granted by trial court in Santa Clara County Jan. 21, 2000, 3-judge panel of Cal. Court of Appeal ruled Thurs. that lower court had violated First Amendment rights of defendant Andrew Bunner. On Dec. 27, 1999, DVD CCA filed complaint against Bunner and others who allegedly had republished or created links to DeCSS online after Norwegian hackers posted descrambling code.
DVD CCA took action under Uniform Trade Secrets Act (USTA) and sought injunction to prevent further disclosure of “any proprietary property or trade secrets relating to the CSS technology.” Judge William Elfving of trial court enjoined Bunner and others from publishing DeCSS based on DVD CCA’s claims of trade secret misappropriation. But appeals court last week ruled “the California Legislature is free to enact laws to protect trade secrets, but these provisions must bow to the protections offered by the First Amendment.” Appeals panel said injunction “can fairly be characterized as a prohibition of ‘pure’ speech.”
Appellate court said Bunner is entitled to recover costs of his appeal. Original 1999 case is expected to go to trial in spring before Judge Elfving. Meanwhile, DVD CCA will petition state’s highest court to reinstate injunction, spokeswoman for Assn. said.