Norwegian Teen found "not Guilty" for accessing his own DVD's

[Morgeruat]

Norwegian Teenager Jon Johansen Acquitted in DVD Case
Legal to Descramble His DVDs on Linux Computer in Norway
Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release
Oslo, Norway - A Norwegian criminal court today acquitted Jon Johannsen, a Norwegian teenager who faced criminal charges for helping to write and publish a DVD descrambling program. Johansen used the program called DeCSS to watch his own DVDs on his Linux computer.

After a request from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the Norwegian Economic Crime Unit (ØKOKRIM) had charged Jon Johansen for unscrambling DVDs using DeCSS in 1999 when he was 15 years old.

"The Norwegian court has recognized that Jon has the right to take the steps necessary to view his own DVDs on his own computers," said Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Legal Director Cindy Cohn. "Johansen's acquittal, along with that of Russian company Elcomsoft in the U.S. last month, will hopefully convince Hollywood to stop filing unfounded charges in cases where there is no copyright infringement."

EFF assisted Jon in locating Norwegian counsel and setting up a defense fund.

"The court has made a very solid legal and factual ruling," noted Halvor Manshaus of the Norwegian law firm Schjødt, who represented Johansen in the case. "It helped tremendously that the lead judge was assisted by two expert judges who are computer specialists."

Johansen was charged with violating the Norwegian Criminal Code section 145(2), which outlaws breaking into another person's locked property to gain access to data that no one is entitled to access.

Johansen's prosecution marks the first time the Norwegian government has attempted to punish individuals for accessing their own property. Previously, the government used this law to prosecute only individuals who violated someone else's secure system, like a bank or telephone company system, in order to obtain another person's records.

The three-member Oslo City Court unanimously ruled to acquit Johansen. The Norwegian prosecutors have said they will decide within two weeks whether to appeal the verdict.

Johansen's indictment came more than two years after the MPAA initially contacted ØKOKRIM prosecutors to request a criminal investigation of the Norwegian teen and his father, Per Johansen, who owned the equipment on which the DeCSS software was stored. The charges against Johansen's father were later dropped.

http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/DeCSS_pr...07_eff_pr.html

About time Hollywood was slapped down on this issue. Still irks me that they are now selling CD's that can't be played on a lot of CD players without labeling them as different or non-compatible...

[Timber Loftis]

Thanks for the info. Access to worldwide local news. IWF is better than my daily legal bulletins.

I think the stupidity is applying LICENSE law to what should be copyright material. You do not own your DVD but a license to view it. You gotta be kidding me. We can think Bill Gates for this trend, and his lawyers were worth whatever he paid them to come up with such a loophole.

[The Hunter of Jahanna]

Maybe you can help me here, TL. How can a U.S. company sue someone in another countie for copyright infringment? I didnt think U.S. laws were applicable in other countries. If the MPAA can sue someone in another countrie for copy right infringement, then what is stopping some of the peer to peer networks from sueing them for harrasment or slander?

[/)eathKiller]

Ugh! why I never! That's rediculouse! out of all the people who copy and rip DVDs it's a wonder Holywood can even charge a single individual for such a thing !

[WillowIX]

I have no idea what that boy did or how he did it, but a DVD I purchase for my hard-earned money is MINE. And no one can tell me what I can and can not do with my property. Copyright, sure I agree with that but can this be argued as a copyright violation? Good show Norway! [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[Morgeruat]

Originally posted by The Hunter of Jahanna: Maybe you can help me here, TL. How can a U.S. company sue someone in another countie for copyright infringment? I didnt think U.S. laws were applicable in other countries. If the MPAA can sue someone in another countrie for copy right infringement, then what is stopping some of the peer to peer networks from sueing them for harrasment or slander?

as it states in the article, the MPAA just put pressure on the Norwegian legal system to prosecute him, they were not actually doing any litigation.

[Sir Exxon]

Heh, that was a funny case indeed. It was closed for quite some time ago, though. [img]smile.gif[/img]
Anyhow, I actually once "knew" Jon. He was my aunts neighbour, before they moved. And being the same age as my cousin, I saw him almost every time I visited my aunt. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Back on topic, I enjoyed following the DVD-Jon case, as it is called here, and I must say I like the way it is published international. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Thoran]

Originally posted by MagiK: About time Hollywood was slapped down on this issue. Still irks me that they are now selling CD's that can't be played on a lot of CD players without labeling them as different or non-compatible...

This is especially stupid because the new format will most likely be cracked before it even catches on.

[Sir Krustin]

Originally posted by Thoran: This is especially stupid because the new format will most likely be cracked before it even catches on.

Actually, since the cds in question aren't actually protected per se, calling any...response...to the format a "crack" is not exactly accurate.

What is actually happening, is the manufacturers are making cds that break the cd standard in a way that doesn't affect most cd players - but confuses CD-ROM drives.

What will probably happen is the firmware for newer cd-roms will be rewritten to recognize these "faulty" cds.