A Norwegian teenager who helped crack a code designed to protect the content of DVDs was acquitted on all charges by an Oslo court on Tuesday.
The highly publicized case pitted Jon Lech Johansen from a small town near Oslo against a number of major corporations and organizations, including the Motion Picture Association of America.
Norwegian prosecutors, acting partly on complaints from the US entertainment industry, claimed that Johansen broke the law when he shared his DVD decryption code with others by putting it on the Internet.
The authorities also said that the decryption code enabled users to make pirate copies of DVDs.
But Judge Irene Sogn ruled that there was no evidence that Johansen or others had used the decryption code known as DeCSS for illegal purposes.
Sogn also determined that it is not illegal to use the DeCSS code to watch DVD films obtained by legal means.
Johansen, who was indicted following a raid on his home three years ago when he was 16 years old, told the Oslo daily newspaper Aftenposten he was "very satisfied with the verdict."
"It was, of course, expected, but it could have gone the other way too," Johansen was quoted as saying.
Legal experts said the court's ruling in the so-called "David and Goliath" case would have ramifications for Internet use as well as content property.
NEW MARKET: The partnership opens up India to the Dutch company, which already has a strong hold in the semiconductor market of South Korea, Taiwan and China ASML Holding NV entered into a partnership agreement with Tata Electronics Pvt Ltd aimed at ramping up India’s goal to develop domestic chip-manufacturing capabilities. The Dutch company’s technology would help power Tata Electronics’ planned 300 millimeter (mm) semiconductor foundry in Gujarat, according to a joint statement from the two companies on Saturday. The signing of a memorandum of understanding coincides with a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Netherlands, which is looking to deepen bilateral relations with New Delhi. ASML, whose top customers include Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co, makes lithography machines that can print
PORTFOLIO REBALANCING: The adjustments in three global equity indices reflect rising investor appetite for semiconductor and artificial intelligence-related stocks Taiwan’s weighting in major global equity indices compiled by MSCI Inc is to rise modestly following the latest quarterly review, underscoring the market’s expanding role in emerging-market portfolios, as global investors continue to favor the nation’s technology sector. Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index is to increase by 0.30 percentage points to 23.76 percent, after the changes take effect at the close of the May 29 session. Its weighting in the MSCI All-Country Asia ex-Japan Index is to rise 0.37 percentage points to 27.16 percent, while that in the MSCI All Country World Index is to edge up slightly to
The Hsinchu County Government’s Labor Affairs Department yesterday said that it has received a plan from cosmetics brand Taiwan Shiseido Co (台灣資生堂) detailing mass layoffs at its plant in Hukou Township (湖口). While the labor authorities did not disclose the number of employees to be laid off, Japanese news media earlier in the day reported that the closure of the company’s factory in Hukou would result in 170 employees losing their jobs. Shiseido followed the law by reporting its layoff plan, the department said, adding that authorities would closely monitor negotiations between the management and affected employees and step in if any
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Tuesday confirmed a cyberattack targeting some of its North American facilities, but said the affected factories were gradually returning to normal. The company, known globally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said that its cybersecurity team “activated the response mechanism and implemented operational measures to ensure the continuity of production and delivery.” “The affected factories are resuming normal production,” the company said in a statement. Hon Hai had previously described it as a “technical issue,” when news of the cyberattack first surfaced. The confirmation followed media reports of a large-scale information technology system incident that broke out at
RSS