I don't know if this case has come up on MCN before. Basically, a
Russian software company wrote software, intended for sale, that cracks
the protection on Adobe's eBook format for digital books.
Apparently the technology for doing so is trivial. They were
prosecuted under the DMCA, but found not guilty today in San Jose,
CA. The long version of the story is at
http://rss.com.com/2100-1023-978176.html?type=pt&part=rss&tag=feed&subj=news
One key, free-speech-affirming quote follows:
"After much wrangling among attorneys over the definition of the
word 'willful,' the judge told jurors that in order to find the company
guilty, they must agree that company representatives knew their actions
were illegal and intended to violate the law. Merely offering a product
that could violate copyrights was not enough to warrant a conviction, the
jury instructions said."
Ultimately the jury believed ElcomSoft's story, that they had only
intended that the software be used on legally purchased eBooks--I
imagine, for fair-use type purposes.
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