For Immediate Release: Monday, January 20, 2003

Johansen Verdict Appealed by Norwegian Prosecutors

Electronic Frontier Foundation Defends Viewing Own DVDs

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Advisory

Oslo, Norway - Norwegian government prosecutors today submitted an appeal of the case against Jon Johansen, a teenager who again faces criminal charges for helping to write and publish a DVD descrambling program. Johansen used the program called DeCSS to watch his own DVDs on his Linux computer.

Johansen\'s attorney Halvor Manshaus, of the lawfirm Schjødt AS, provided the following statement:

"It is correct that the prosecution has decided to appeal the court ruling in this case. This is not unexpected, as the prosecution has flagged this as a case of principle interest. The appeals court, Borgarting lagmannsrett, may decide not to grant the appeal, as there is a screening principle for criminal cases. If the appeal is granted, this means that there will be full proceedings before the appeal court on all aspects of the case, i.e. both factual evidence and legal arguments. I am positive with regard to the final outcome of the case."

"The lower court ruled unanimously that Johansen did not violate Norwegian law," said Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Executive Director Shari Steele. "Johansen did not violate any copyrights and Norway doesn\'t have a Digital Millennium Copyright Act that could prevent DVD owners from viewing their own DVDs on their own computers as we have here in the United States."

Links:

For this advisory:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/DeCSS_prosecutions/Johansen_DeCSS_case/20030120_eff_pr.php

More on the Johansen case:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/DeCSS_prosecutions/Johansen_DeCSS_case/

Information on related DVD CCA cases:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/DVDCCA_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 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:

Shari Steele

Halvor Manshaus