See related files:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video (EFF Archive)
http://jya.com/cryptout.htm#DVD-DeCSS (Cryptome Archive)
http://www.2600.com/dvd/docs (2600 Archive)
http://eon.law.harvard.edu/openlaw/dvd/ (Harvard DVD OpenLaw Project)
EFF DVD Update: July 21, 2000
Universal City Studios v. 2600 Magazine
REVEALED: DeCSS Led to Competing Linux DVD Player
EFF's defense team landed a surprising blow to the MPAA in Court on Friday when it revealed that the Livid Project has built an open source DVD player for Linux machines using DeCSS. Livid (short for Linux Video) Project leader Matt Pavlovich testified for the defense that his group had been working for months to create a way for Linux users to watch the DVDs they own on the machines that they own. Pavlovich testified that DeCSS was an important step in creating the Linux DVD player and offered to perform an in-court demonstration of his important new innovation. Although the studios' lawyers objected to the Livid player demonstration as "irrelevant," the MPAA conceded they would not contest the existence of the independently created DVD player.
Pavlovich stated the Livid Project's DVD player was created by lawful reverse engineering under the open source development model, which relies upon dozens to thousands of programmers around the globe working collaboratively. DVD players such as Livid's, manufactured independently from DVD-CCA and the MPAA, are not legally required to restrict consumer player features because they are not subject to a CSS license. Through this litigation the studios were hoping to ban DeCSS before independent groups used the code to create consumer-friendly DVD players that could compete with DVD-CCA's monopoly on players.
EFF's defense team will continue on Tuesday to present its witnesses including Chris DiBona, President of the Silicon Valley Linux Users' Group and VA Linux Evangelist. Judge Lewis Kaplan's court is in recess on Monday July 23, 2000. Other witnesses EFF plans to call include Andrew Appel, a Princeton University computer science professor and Michael Einhorn, Columbia University economist. EFF may recall MPAA anti-piracy official Mikail Reider who testified last week against Journalist Emmanuel Goldstein and his publication 2600.com. Carnegie Melon computer science professor Dave Touretzky and Olegario Craig of the University of Massachusetts may also be called to testify in the trial which should end Tuesday or Wednesday of this week.
Transcript of July 21, 2000 trial:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/MPAA_DVD_cases/20000721_ny_trial_transcript.html
An index of the DVD updates can be found at:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/dvd_updates_archive.html
EFF's archive of MPAA v 2600 litigation: http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/MPAA_DVD_cases/
