


		For Immediate Release: Tuesday, December 17, 2002 Jury Acquits Elcomsoft in eBook Copyright Case Dmitry Sklyarov Odyssey Leaves Prosecutor Empty-Handed Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release San Francisco - The highly publicized case that began with the arrest of Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov today came to a close. A federal jury in San Jose today returned a verdict of not guilty on all counts in the criminal trial of Sklyarov's employer, a Russian software company called Elcomsoft Ltd. The case was the one of the first criminal cases to be brought under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 ("DMCA"). "Today's jury verdict sends a strong message to federal prosecutors who believe that tool makers should be thrown in jail just because a copyright owner doesn't like the tools they build," said EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney Fred von Lohmann. "We have said from the beginning that Dmitry Sklyarov, Elcomsoft, and technologists like them are not pirates, and today a jury agreed." The case began in July 16, 2001, when the FBI arrested Dmitry Sklyarov at the Defcon conference in Las Vegas. Sklyarov was the lead engineer on an Elcomsoft product known as the Advanced eBook Processor (AEBPR), which software giant Adobe Systems Inc. claimed was a "circumvention tool" prohibited by the DMCA. Links: For this release: http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Elcomsoft/20021217_eff_pr.html EFF FAQ on U.S. v. Elcomsoft: http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Elcomsoft/us_v_elcomsoft_faq.html Larry Lessig editorial about the case in the New York Times: http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Elcomsoft/20010730_lessig_oped.html EFF Elcomsoft/Sklyarov case archive: http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Elcomsoft/ 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 and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported organization and maintains one of the most linked-to websites in the world at http://www.eff.org/ Contact: Fred von Lohmann Senior Intellectual Property Attorney Electronic Frontier Foundation fred@eff.org +1 415 436-9333 x123 (office)


		Please send any questions or comments to webmaster@eff.org.