Jon Johansen acquitted

[John S. Denker]

OSLO, Norway (CNN) -- A Norwegian teenager has been
cleared of DVD piracy charges in a landmark trial brought
by major Hollywood studios.
...
"Johansen is found not guilty," Judge Irene Sogn told the
court. She said prosecutors could appeal against the
unanimous verdict.
...
The teenager has become a symbol for hackers worldwide who
say making software such as Johansen's -- called DeCSS -- is
an act of intellectual freedom rather than theft.
...
The studios argued unauthorised copying was copyright theft
and undermined a market for DVDs and videos worth $20
billion a year in North America alone.

But Johansen argued his code was necessary to watch movies
he already owned, on his Linux-based computer, for which DVD
software had not yet been written.
...
The court ruled there was "no evidence" that Johansen or
others used the decryption code called DeCSS for illegal
purposes. Nor was there any evidence that Johansen intended
to contribute to illegal copying.

The court also ruled that it is not illegal to use the DeCSS
code to watch DVD films obtained by legal means.

In the United States, Johansen's case raised concerns among
Internet users of what they see as a constitutional right to
freedom of expression. A battle is raging in the U.S. over a
1998 copyright law that bans software like DeCSS.

Even though Johansen's software is now outdated, it was the
first to give the so-called source codes, or instructions,
for how to decipher DVD codes.


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