California Supreme Court Finds Trade Secret Protection May Outweigh Free Speech Claims.

Mondaq Business Briefing, September, 2003

A preliminary injunction prohibiting a web site operator from posting the source code for a DVD decrypting program containing another party's trade secrets does not violate the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution or the free speech clause of the California Constitution, the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled. DVD Copy Control Association, Inc. v. Bunner (S102588, Aug. 25, 2003).

The case resulted from the Internet publication of the source code for a computer program called "DeCSS." DeCSS defeats certain encryption/ decryption technology called the "content scramble system" (CSS) that is designed to prevent the unauthorized use of motion pictures stored on DVDs. DeCSS was allegedly first published online in October 1999 by a Norwegian teenager named Jon...