johnnymk
12-18-2002, 04:10 AM
Sylvia Carr,
Senior Editor,
AnchorDesk
Wednesday, December 18, 2002
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a controversial law designed to extend copyright protections into the digital age, has been put to the test. A jury found Russian software company ElcomSoft not guilty of four charges relating to the creation of a tool that can crack the antipiracy protections on electronic books. Jurors agreed the product was illegal, but believed ElcomSoft didn't mean to violate the law. The victory is one of the first setbacks for publishers seeking to assert the law against programmers, and attorneys say it bodes ill for future criminal prosecutions under the DMCA--especially since, unlike the civil copyright cases against file-sharing companies such as Napster, this verdict cannot be appealed.
Senior Editor,
AnchorDesk
Wednesday, December 18, 2002
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a controversial law designed to extend copyright protections into the digital age, has been put to the test. A jury found Russian software company ElcomSoft not guilty of four charges relating to the creation of a tool that can crack the antipiracy protections on electronic books. Jurors agreed the product was illegal, but believed ElcomSoft didn't mean to violate the law. The victory is one of the first setbacks for publishers seeking to assert the law against programmers, and attorneys say it bodes ill for future criminal prosecutions under the DMCA--especially since, unlike the civil copyright cases against file-sharing companies such as Napster, this verdict cannot be appealed.