After three years of legal volleys, a case that could potentially set precedent for lawsuits from individual states and countries over global Internet content is currently being considered by the California Supreme Court.
The case involves Matthew Pavlovich, an open source developer who was sued in 1999 by the DVD Copy Control Association (DVD CCA) for publishing code on how to circumvent DVD encryption, called Contents Scramble System (CSS). At that time, Pavlovich was a Purdue University student in Indiana who was part of an online open source development forum that published the code, called De Contents Scramble System (DeCSS), allowing Linux users to view DVDs on their computers.
The suit, filed in a Santa Clara, Calif., court in 1999, alleged that Pavlovich and other defendants violated state law governing trade secrets by revealing the contents of the entertainment industry's DVD encryption code. The group claimed that it was filing the suit in California because the industry was concentrated in the state.
Pavlovich's lawyers argued that just because California residents could view the published code in the state, it did not mean that the court had jurisdiction in the case. The court denied the motion, however, and so too did an appeals court.
In December 2000 the California Supreme Court reviewed the case and unanimously ruled that the appeals court had to show cause as to why Pavlovich should be forced to stand trial in California. The appeals court ruled again in favor of the DVD CCA, prompting Pavlovich to appeal the order with the California Supreme Court. Last December, the California Supreme Court decided to take on the case.
Free-speech advocates fear that if the California Supreme Court rules in favor of the DVD CCA, the case could set a dangerous precedent whereby any person or company that published on the Web could be found subject to regional laws.
Jason Maher, vice president and general counsel for the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), which filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case last month, said his group was taken aback when the appeals court upheld the order for Pavlovich to stand trial in California.
"It opens the door for everyone on the Internet to be under jurisdiction of individual states or countries," Maher said.
Pavlovich is not the only defendant fighting against jurisdictional issues on the 'Net recently, as several other high-profile cases have emphasized the problems that can arise when a global medium runs afoul with regional laws.
Last year the U.S. government charged Moscow software company ElcomSoft for distributing software that allows users to circumvent the copyright protections in Adobe Systems' eBook format. Circumventing copyright protection controls is a violation under the 1998 U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), the same law that Pavlovich is being charged under for distributing information on how to circumvent these controls.
ElcomSoft filed a motion to dismiss the case on grounds that its offense occurred primarily on the Internet and not in the U.S., but that motion was dismissed last month.
In another jurisdictional dispute, a French court in May 2000 ordered U.S. Internet portal Yahoo to make it impossible for French users to make bids on Nazi memorabilia posted on Web sites the portal hosted, because under French law it is illegal to exhibit or sell objects with racist overtones.
Yahoo initially appealed the decision but then decided to remove the items of its own accord.
With Internet jurisdiction claims still up in the air, in all likelihood, many companies and individuals publishing on the 'Net will be keeping their eye on the Pavlovich verdict.
However, representatives for the DVD CCA said Thursday that it is not known when the California Supreme Court will make its final decision in the case.
The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.
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