'DVD Jon' Acquitted On All Counts in DeCSS Case

benh57 writes "Jon Johansen, the author of DeCSS, has been acquitted on all charges by the Norwegian Supreme Court.' Johansen and his defense attorney Halvor Manshaus won on all counts, with the Oslo court ruling that Johansen did nothing wrong when he helped cracked the code on a DVD that was his own personal property.'" Here's Aftenposten's story, in English. Read on below for some more links, and please post others in the comments. Update: 01/07 14:02 GMT by T : Reader Torstein Grotnes writes with a correction: The court which cleared Johansen is not Norway's Supreme Court, but rather "the 'tingrett' which is two steps below 'supreme court' level."

Here's John Leyden's story at the Register about the ruling.

LarsBT links to this Reuters newsflash and points out that since Johansen's arrest, "Norway has introduced legislation similar to the European Unions directive on copyright [pdf], making it illegal to circumvent any copyright protection - making it highly unlikely that he would be found not guilty under these new rules."

An anonymous reader writes with some background (or do a search on Slashdot for DeCSS ;)): "Read the DVD-Jon lawsuit story here and here" and notes that "'the prosecution decided to charge Johansen with a data break-in, rather than handle the matter as a copyright case.' The court said that DeCSS could be used both legally and illegally and referred to similar cases outside the computing industry. The court said it was difficult to conclude on Johansen's intentions with DeCSS, but there was no conclusive evidence."

Comments

read the entire verdict here

[rokka]

all in norweigian... http://www.digi.no/dtno.nsf/pub/md20030107114651_q iz_14357518

Not supreme court

[DeeZee]

The ruling came from the norwegian "Tingrett", which is one of the lower courts. Hence, an appeal will almost certainly be made before the two week deadline is up.
It ain't over till the fat geek burps...

Re:Not supreme court

[91degrees]

In countries like Sweden and Norway, you cant sue McDonnalds for 100M$ for spilling hot coffee on yourself :)

To be fair to the person who did this, she only sued because the coffee was abnormally hot (third degree burns requiring a skin graft). McDonalds knew about the risk. She initally just wanted McDonalds to pay her medical bills. McDonalds refused.

Can't anyone get it right?

[Anonymous Coward]

The bastard never wrote DeCSS, he merely wrote a GUI. This is a sad day.

Re:Can't anyone get it right?

[KjetilK]

He never claimed to have written anything but a GUI. Police didn't believe him, but the court did.

Re:Norway

[skahshah]

Sklyarov never got acquitted. He made a deal. Everybody knows what it was. Not exactly the same thing.

This is just the first battle.

[Zayin]

The real showdown will be when Norway implements the EUCD directive. Then this verdict could be rather irrelevant as the new laws could make such actions illegal anyway.

Infosoc

[Bish.dk]

LarsBT links to this Reuters newsflash and points out that since Johansen's arrest, "Norway has introduced legislation similar to the European Unions directive on copyright [pdf], making it illegal to circumvent any copyright protection - making it highly unlikely that he would be found not guilty under these new rules."

Norway is not part of the EU, but still takes most new EU-laws and directives and implements them into their own law. The irony of them implementing the Infosoc-directive (Euro-DMCA) mentioned above is that they're almost the only ones doing it. So far, only Denmark (*sigh*) and Greece has implemented the directive.

Re:Norway

[videodriverguy]

Sklyarov wasn't acquitted - he agreed to be a witness for the prosecution in return for immunity. That is a BIG difference.

His company was acquitted, not him. Even if they were, he still spent a certain amount of time in a US jail, away from his family. He will never receive compensation for that time.

So, it seems that the USA and Norway are not equal. Especially as I don't remember a case where Norway attempted to use it's laws against someone not even in the country.

Re:No double jeopardy rules?

[gorilla]

Double jeopardy only applies in criminal trials. In civil trials, the loosing side(s) can appeal.

Re:Norway, Europe & The World

[Darren Winsper]

Eh? The UK has been forced to delay its introduction of the EUCD into the commons because of all the feedback it got, most of it being quite damning of the EUCD.

Re:Hip Hip . . .(not)

[anonicon]

Enjoy it while it lasts, Jon was found innocent because the laws in Norway haven't been updated to be in concert with the EUCD (Europe's DMCA), which Norway will have to be part of. Once the EUCD is implemented across Europe, his actions would be criminal and he would go to jail. FWIW, the American government is pushing hard for it to be implemented there. For more information on the EUCD, check out http://ukcdr.org/issues/eucd. For good examples of how the DMCA sucks, check out the EFF's unintended consequences list.

Peace,
Chuck

Norway is not a member of the EU

[Dusabre]

Norway is not a member of the EU. The other nordic nations, that is Sweden, Finland and Denmark, are. European Union
Norway is a member of Nato. Nato

Re:No double jeopardy rules?

[arcade]

This was a criminal case. JJ was charged for breaking criminal law, paragraph 145, second WhateverTheEnglishTermIs.

There is no such thing as 'double jeopardy' in Norway.

Re:Hip Hip . . .(not)

[Anonymous Coward]

Nope, no, nei, wrong, error!

Norway does not have to implement any EU directives whatsoever. Why? Because they are not a member of the EU

Re:Let's hope that he asks damages

[nordicfrost]

Acutally, the manufacturer of the Xing DVD player could sue Jon for damages. They have, without dispute, lost A LOT of money after this incident. Not only was their CSS-keys retracted from the market, they also had to pay a fine to the DVD CCA. They are the real losers in this ordeal.

Re:What a surprise!

[rebbie]

What about the case of Yasser Esam Hamdi a U.S. Citizen born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana now being held in Guantanimo. He certainly is a "legitimate citizen." Nobody is questioning that fact....

• "The Pentagon source said Hamdi's status as a U.S. citizen will not affect the government's ability to try him as a "battlefield detainee" -- rather than trying him in civilian courts, like Walker Lindh."

It seems to me that the U.S. government is doing what it wants to do and is making the rules up as it goes along. And yes -- the "media" is buying this and regurgitating just what it's being fed.

Re:Linux?

[KjetilK]

No, the verdicts just cites those things, goes on to say that the court cannot take them too seriously, as they are humorous and indicates irony (basically, the judge understood what ;) means, the prosecutor did not). The court didn't find that it was conclusively proved that DeCSS was mainly for Linux, but it also found that the prosecution had not given any proof to the contrary, which is their job.

As for that quote, it was something Jon uttered after having been seriously flamed for having stolen Fawkus code, which Fawkus later said he had not.

Re:Hip Hip . . .(not)

[den_erpel]

AFAIK Norway is not a part of the EU, so they do not have to adjust their laws an accordance of the EU.

They might implement it (in this case, I don't see why they should), but they certainly don't have to by any treaty.

Re:Hip Hip . . .(not)

[Drachemorder]

That's true in America as well. The Constitution specifically forbids ex post facto laws, meaning that you can't pass a law and then convict people of breaking it before it was enacted.

Re:Hip Hip . . .(not)

[LarsG]

Yes, yup, ja, right, correct!

Sorry that I have to tell you this, but Norway's deal with EU through the EEC deal force Norway to implement a lot of EU directives - including the EUCD.

The Norwegian Department of Culture is expected to release a law proposal in february. If you want to do something about it, join Electronic Frontier Norway.