U.S. Supreme Court Withdraws Stay in DVD Copying Case

The last issue of e-Tips reported on a stay ordered by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the rulings of the California Supreme Court in a trade secrets' case involving the DVD Copy Control Association (a group representing DVD makers for licensing anti-copying technology to the motion picture industry) and the defendant Matthew Pavlovich. The California Court had ruled that Pavlovich could not be sued in California because he does not live in California and his Web site, at which decoding programs were posted, was not based there. In response to submissions made by Pavlovich that decryption programs have already been published in the print media and are downloadable from hundreds of Internet websites, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, on January 4, 2003, vacated her earlier stay, essentially denying the plaintiffs further relief from the lower court's ruling. No comments on the merits of the case were indicated. According to the defendant's lawyer, Pavlovich did not post the decoding program at his website and does not intend to do so in the future. The plaintiff is weighing its options, including petitioning the Supreme Court to hear the case and commencing legal action in Texas, the home state of Pavlovich. For additional information, visit: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2003-01-03-dvd-case_x.htm http://news.com.com/2100-1023-979197.html