Letter from US DVD-CCA's attorney to Norway prosecutor

Alleging criminal conduct on part of Jon and Per Johansen (Jan. 4, 2000)

[Translation of a letter from accusers' attorney Simonsen Musæus to the Norwegian Police Economic Crime Unit "Økokrim," January 4, 2000. Translator's notes are in square brackets. Translator has tried to be word-for-word accurate, even where the phrasing could be better.]

Economic Crime Unit
attn: Chief Prosecutor Inger Marie Sunde
Post Box 8193 0034 OSLO

Attorney in charge: Espen Tøndel
Oslo January 4, 2000
Our reference[?] Etid

[Economic crime unit stamps are not readable, but appear to reference internal group and, possibly, case numbers.]

Report [notification] - Jon Johansen, Per Johansen and other individuals involved in possible violation of criminal law § 145 second part and § 54, see also § 21 intellectual property law.

We reference our meeting on November 19, 1999 where we described a number of factual circumstances concerning the so-called "DVD hack" and possible violation of the law. In accordance with your request at the meeting, we provide the factual information below, and we hereby report the above-named persons for possible violation of the criminal law § 145 and the intellectual property law § 54, also § 2.

The DVD Copy Control Association (DVD CCA) and the Motion Picture Association (MAP) will both assist with technical and/or legal assistance if requested in connection with this [action].

Criminal Law § 145, second part -- Jon Johansen.

Possible violation of criminal law § 145, second part, relating to the activities carried out by Jon Johansen and, as far as we know, also other people involved in the "DVD-hack" where they can have broken a [copy] protection [mechanism] or in a comparable manner gained access to data or computer software that is stored or transmitted by electronic [means] or by other technical means. These data etc. are as follows:

• "Master Key" and authentication and decryption algorithm in DVD players that are part of the Content Scrambling System [CSS].
• "Master Key List" in DVD discs that are another part of the Content Scrambling System.
• The content in the DVD disc; i.e. the movie file that is stored on the disc itself.

CSS is an encryption system that is developed for encrypting and [thereby] protecting the movie file that is stored digitally on the DVD disc [from] illegal distribution.

We have reason to believe that Jon Johansen, along with eventual other people, is responsible for violation of the law, either directly, or by contribution, or by attempt or by attempt to contribute.

Intellectual Property Law § 54, see also § 2 -- Jon Johansen.

The possible violation of the intellectual property law § 54, see also § 2 relates to the fact that Jon Johansen has linked the DeCSS program. [We think this means that Jon Johansen allegedly made DeCSS available on the Internet, not "linked" in the programming sense, nor simply "linked to" online.] DeCSS is a decryption tool that was developed as a consequence of the break of the "Master Key" and "Master Key List" in the CSS. DeCSS makes it possible with simple means to decrypt the encrypted audio/vidio-vob files on the DVD discs, and stores them on the PC's hard disk unencrypted. DeCSS also makes it possible to transmit audio/video-files over the Internet in unencrypted and unprotected form. This facilitates duplication of an unlimited number of unauthorized copes. Consequently, Jon Johansen has contributed to illegal distribution of movie files stored on DVD discs, or attempted to contribute to such illegal distribution.

Furthermore, we have reason to believe that, by decompilation of the program "Xing DVD" without explicit permission, Jon Johansen, or also other persons involved, created illegal copies of the actual computer program and therefore violated intellectual property law § 54, see also § 2, Jon Johansen, as well as the other persons eventually involved, are responsible for this violation of the law, either directly, or by contribution, or by attempt or by attempt to contribute.

Intellectual Property Law § 54, see also § 2 -- Per Johansen.

Per Johansen is the owner of the private corporation Micro Media ADB, organization number 974410540.

The DeCSS program was distributed on the home pages of Micro Media ADB, owned by Per Johanson - at www.mmadb.no (which contains the business activities pertaining to Per Johansen) and, from what we understand, with the consent of Per Johansen. Therefore Per Johansen has contributed to the illegal distribution of movie films see Intellectual Property Law 54, see also § 2.

In addition, [we are] sending a binder with a variety of documentation, such as that relating to DVD CCA's activities in the USA, as well as number of new articles (i.e., after our meeting November 19, 1999) on the situation taken from various media.

Furthermore, we send for borrowing a "translation" of some of the communication that has [taken place] on the so called "Linux chat room." This was translated from the jargon used in the "Linux chat room" to English. This material contains certain information on Jon Johansen's contribution to the law violations described above (we have marked the pages containing Johansen's participation with yellow tags).

If you need to talk or request assistance from me or my clients, please contact me.

Yours very truly,
SIMONSEN MUSÆUS

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