More on the Elcomsoft case....The testimony is over and the two sides are wrangling with Judge Whyte about the jury instructions. Whyte did not allow Elcomsoft to introduce evidence that its program allowed blind consumers to make their Adobe ebooks readable by text-to-speech software, or evidence on how any kind of consumer actually used the program. Arguments that Elcomsoft's program is protected by fair use, or that the relevant portions of the DMCA violate the First Amendment, will have to wait for an appeal. Even though the prosecutors dropped charges against Dmitry Sklyarov in exchange for his testimony, in the end they did not call him as a witness, but used a taped deposition instead. The defense called him as a witness, and asked about his purposes in creating the program. (The DMCA requires wilfulness.) Also see coverage here and here.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 12/11/2002 09:32:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
