, The Associated Press 2002-12-17
A Russian software firm accused of violating the controversial 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act was found innocent on all counts Tuesday by a federal jury.
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Under the eBook formats, you have no rights at all, and the jury had trouble with that concept.
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Lawyers for the Russian company said Elcomsoft's program simply allowed users to make backup copies of eBooks and be able to read them on other devices, something permitted under the "fair use" concept of copyright law.
Jury foreman Dennis Strader said the argument made a big impact on the jurors, who asked U.S. District Judge Ronald M. Whyte to clarify the "fair use" definition shortly after deliberations began.
"Under the eBook formats, you have no rights at all, and the jury had trouble with that concept," said Strader.
The copyright act, which was being tested at trial for the first time, prohibits the production and distribution of any product designed primarily to circumvent security features of digital media.
Lawyers representing Elcomsoft and its president, Alex Katalov, characterized the case as a dispute between Elcomsoft and Adobe, arguing there was no intent to violate the copyright act because his clients believed their product was legal. It is legal in Russia.
If convicted, Elcomsoft could have been fined up to $2 million, with additional penalties if intent was determined.
In closing arguments, prosecutors brought up Enron, WorldCom and other embattled corporations, telling the jury that Elcomsoft must follow the rules just like American corporations.
The case centered around Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov, 27, the developer of the Elcomsoft program, who was arrested after speaking at a Las Vegas hacker convention last year. The assistant professor at Moscow Technical University originally was charged along with his employer, but charges were dropped in return for his testimony against Elcomsoft.
"We believed in this verdict from the beginning," said Katalov, who confirmed that the program is no longer available, and won't be sold again by Elcomsoft, in Russia or anywhere else.
Prosecutor Scott H. Frewing, who told jurors that the Russians "were selling a burglar tool for software to make a profit," quickly left the courtroom after the verdict and had no immediate comment.
Defense attorney Joe Burton said the government failed to prove Elcomsoft intended to violate the law, but predicted more prosecutions.
"I don't see it as throwing a blanket on DMCA. It will take another case to test that," Burton said.
Civil libertarians say the digital copyright act stifles computer research and gives publishers, record companies and movie studios too tight a grip on online content
Jefferson Scher, a copyright expert and partner in the Palo Alto law firm of Carr & Ferrell, had predicted before the verdict was reached that jurors might be disturbed by the law's impact on consumers.
"If the jury sits back and says 'wait a second, this means I'm only going to be able to get music that I pay for, I won't be able to burn any music to a CD,' if they start thinking about the consequences of this law, they might say `to heck with that. Let's acquit,"' Scher said.
