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Electronic Frontier Foundation Media AdvisoryREVISED: 1:15pm PT, Aug. 22, 2001Russian Programmer to Appear in California CourtDmitry Sklyarov Issues Statement Thanking SupportersFor Immediate Release: Tuesday, August 21, 2001Contact:Robin Gross, EFF Intellectual Property Attorney Cindy Cohn, EFF Offline Legal Director David Greene, First Amendment Project Director San Jose, California - Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov will appear in a California federal court next week, for an arraignment on charges of trafficking in a copyright circumvention device. For programming a software application that appears to be legal in Moscow where he wrote it, Sklyarov -- who is out of custody on $50,000 bail -- faces a potential prison term of five years and a $500,000 fine. The arraignment is scheduled for 9:30am PT, Thursday, August 30 (it was delayed one week for the originally announced date of Aug. 23). The hearing will be held with US Magistrate Judge Richard Seeborg presiding, in courtroom 4, 5th floor of the Federal District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Branch, 280 South 1st Street, in San Jose, California. Nonviolent protests will be scheduled outside the hearing in San Jose, and in Moscow (Russia), Cambridge (England), London (England), Minneapolis, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Black Rock City, Nevada.
Dmitry Skylarov issued the following statement thanking the activists who have taken up his cause:
Directions and map to San Jose Federal Building:
Background on the Sklyarov case:
Calendar of protests related to the Sklyarov case:
Coincidentally, the same afternoon nearby in San Jose, a California state appellate court will hear oral arguments regarding whether dozens of Internet publishers can be ordered to "stop the presses" pending the outcome of a California trade secrets trial. In January 2000, as part of a trade secrets case brought by the motion picture industry, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge William Elfving ordered that Andrew Bunner and numerous other defendants halt Internet publication of the source code for DeCSS pending the outcome of a trial. DeCSS is free software that allows people to play DVDs without technological restrictions, such as platform limitations and region codes, that are preferred by movie studios. Bunner, represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the First Amendment Project, is appealing this prior restraint on his free speech rights. The case is In Re: DVD Copy Control Assoc., Inc. v. Bunner, case no. H021153. Oral arguments will begin at 1:30 PM before California's Sixth Appellate Court, located at 333 West Santa Clara Street, Suite 1060, San Jose, CA 95113.
Directions and map to San Jose Appellate Court Building:
Background on the DVD Copy Control Assoc., Inc. v.
Bunner case:
About EFF:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties
organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in
1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and government to
support free expression, privacy, and openness in the information
society. EFF is a member-supported organization and maintains one of the
most linked-to Web sites in the world: About FAP:
The First Amendment Project (FAP) is a nonprofit, public
interest law firm established in 1991 to protect, defend,
and further the rights to participate in and know about
government activities and speak freely about public issues: - end -
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Please send any questions or comments to webmaster@eff.org. |
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