[Rumori] Jon Johansen Retrial Begins in Oslo Appeals Court (fwd)

[Steev Hise]

latest on the deCSS guy...
smh

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 01 Dec 2003 23:23:31 -0800
From: Robin Gross <robin at ipjustice.org>
To: announce at ipjustice.org
Subject: Jon Johansen Retrial Begins in Oslo Appeals Court

IP Justice Media Release ~ December 2, 2003

Contact: Robin Gross, IP Justice Executive Director
            robin at ipjustice.org  +1 415.553.6261
            Halvor Manshaus, Johansen=92s Attorney, Advokatfirmaet Schj=F8d=
t
AS
            halvor.manshaus at schjodt.no   + 47 22 01 88 00

Jon Johansen Retrial Begins in Oslo Appeals Court
=93DVD Jon=94 Publishes New iTunes Fair Use Computer Program

(Oslo) Norwegian Jon Johansen today faces the retrial of his acquittal
for reverse-engineering DVD technology and creating DeCSS in 1999.
DeCSS is computer software that Johansen and others wrote in an effort
to build an independent DVD player for the Linux operating system.  The
publication of DeCSS onto the Internet spurred lawsuits against hundreds
of web publishers living all over the world for its re-publication.

In January 2003, a three-judge panel in Oslo rejected charges brought by
the Norwegian Economic Crime Unit (OKOKRIM) against Johansen for
accessing his DVD movies using an independently created DVD player.
OKOKRIM appealed the loss and Johansen=92s retrial is scheduled to begin
on December 2, 2003 in Oslo and end December 11, 2003.  Since Johansen=92s
case is one of first impression, it is not unusual for the case to be
retried on an appeal in Norway.

The court also rejected Hollywood=92s claim that it has the right to
control the way in which an individual views a DVD after purchase.  =93The
court finds that someone who buys a DVD film that has been legally
produced has legal access to the film,=94 the January 2003 ruling said.

The charges OKOKRIM filed against Johansen were brought under the
Norwegian criminal code section 145.2, which outlaws bypassing
technological restrictions to access data that one is not entitled to
access.   Johansen's prosecution is the first time that this law has
been used to prosecute a person for accessing his own property.  This
data theft law has been used in the past only to prosecute those who
illegally access another's bank or phone records or data that they have
no lawful right to access.  The penalty for violating this law is two
years in prison.  The Motion Picture Association filed the original
complaint with OKOKRIM calling for Johansen=92s prosecution in 2000, when
he was 15-years old.

=93If Johansen's acquittal is over-turned on appeal, it will become
illegal for Norwegians to bypass DVD region code restrictions or
technical restrictions that prevent fast-forwarding over advertisements,
or otherwise circumvent digital controls on their own property,=94 said IP
Justice Executive Director Robin Gross.

As a member of the European Economic Association, Norway is currently
considering legislation to implement the European Union Copyright
Directive (EUCD), although the Norwegian draft would permit consumer
circumvention for playback.

Johansen is represented on appeal by Oslo attorney Halvor Manshaus, who
earned Johansen=92s acquittal in January.  =93I am confident with regards t=
o
the final outcome of this case - the facts have not changed, and the
legal principles stand even stronger as consumers understand the
restrictive nature of the CSS license scheme,=94 said Manshaus.  =93Two
expert judges from the commercial and the academic arenas have been
called in to assist the court, all together consisting of seven judges,=94
added the attorney with Oslo firm Advokatfirmaet Schj=F8dt AS.

In November 2003, Johansen published a new computer program called
=93QTFairUse=94 that allows consumers to make digital fair use of their
Apple iTunes music collections by legally opening a music file and then
saving it as an unrestricted file.  QTFairUse is only foundational
software since it leaves the music file in an unplayable format and
needs additional software to actually play the music.  But QTFairUse is
published under an Open Source license enabling others to freely build
upon it and incorporate the code into new applications and devices.


More Information on Johansen DeCSS litigation and QTFairUse:

March 3, 2003 IP Justice Media Release on Retrial of Johansen:
http://www.ipjustice.org/030303.dvd.shtml

January 20, 2003 IP Justice Media Release on Appeal of Acquittal:
http://www.ipjustice.org/010703.shtml

January 7, 2003 IP Justice Media Release on Johansen=92s Acquittal:
http://www.ipjustice.org/010703.shtml

See IP Justice timeline of DeCSS litigation:
http://www.ipjustice.org/publications/decsstable.htm

Jon Johansen's page:
http://www.nanocrew.net/

Norway's draft legislation to implement the EUCD:
http://odin.dep.no/kkd/norsk/aktuelt/hoeringssaker/paa_hoering/043061-08006=
6/index-ram003-b-n-a.html#ram3

January 2003 Court Decision Acquitting Johansen (in Norwegian):
http://www.ipjustice.org/johansen/01092003.pdf
http://www.ipjustice.org/johansen/01092003.rtf

January 2000 Court Decision Acquitting Johansen (translated into
English):
http://www.ipjustice.org/johansen/01092003_English.rtf

Original complaint against Jon and Per Johansen in Norwegian (Jan. 4,
2000):
http://www.ipjustice.org/johansen/01042000.pdf

English translation of original complaint against Jon and Per Johansen
(Jan. 4, 2000):
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/DeCSS_prosecutions/Johansen_DeCSS_case/20000104=
_dvdcca_no_prosecutor_letter.en.html

Electronic Frontier Norway:
http://www.efn.no/

Jon Johansen's defense fund:
http://www.eff.org/support/jonfund.html

Electronic Frontier Foundation's Johansen Case Archive
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/DeCSS_prosecutions/Johansen_DeCSS_case/

OKOKRIM:
http://www.okokrim.no/


IP Justice is an international civil liberties organization that
promotes balanced intellectual property laws.  IP Justice defends
consumer rights to use digital media worldwide and is a non-profit
organization based in San Francisco.  IP Justice was founded in 2002 by
Robin Gross, who serves as its Executive Director.  To learn more about
IP Justice, visit the website at http://www.ipjustice.org.