Defendants responded with what they termed "electronic civil disobedience"-increasing their efforts to link their web site to a large number of *304 others that continue to make DeCSS available.ĭefendants contend that their actions do not violate the DMCA and, in any case, that the DMCA, as applied to computer programs, or code, violates the First Amendment. Plaintiffs promptly brought this action under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the "DMCA") to enjoin defendants from posting DeCSS and to prevent them from electronically "linking" their site to others that post DeCSS. Defendants quickly posted DeCSS on their Internetweb site, thus making it readily available to much of the world. Late last year, computer hackers devised a computer program called DeCSS that circumvents the CSS protection system and allows CSS-protected motion pictures to be copied and played on devices that lack the licensed decryption technology. CSS-protected motion pictures on DVDs may be viewed only on players and computer drives equipped with licensed technology that permits the devices to decrypt and play-but not to copy-the films. They protect those motion pictures from copying by using an encryption system called CSS. *303 Plaintiffs, eight major United States motion picture studios, distribute many of their copyrighted motion pictures for home use on digital versatile disks ("DVDs"), which contain copies of the motion pictures in digital form. Permanent Injunction and Declaratory Relief. Defendants' Alleged Right to Disseminate DeCSS. The Constitutionality of the DMCA's Anti-Trafficking Provision. (2) DeCSS Was Designed Primarily to Circumvent CSS. (1) CSS Effectively Controls Access to Copyrighted Works 317 The Preliminary Injunction and Defendants' Response. The District Court, Kaplan, J., held that: (1) posting decryption software violated DMCA provision prohibiting trafficking in technology that circumvented measures controlling access to copyrighted works (2) posting hyperlinks to other web-sites offering decryption software violated DMCA (3) DMCA anti-trafficking provision was content-neutral as applied to computer program (4) DMCA did not violate First Amendment as applied to defendants and decryption software (5) defendants failed to establish anti- trafficking provision was overly broad on grounds that it prevented noninfringing fair use of movies (6) application of anti-trafficking provision to enjoin defendants from hyper-linking to other web-sites offering decryption software did not violate First Amendment and (7) plaintiffs were entitled to injunction enjoining defendants from posting decryption software or hyperlinking to other web-sites that made software available. Motion picture studios brought action under Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to enjoin Internet web-site owners from posting for downloading computer software that decrypted digitally encrypted movies on digital versatile disks (DVDs) and from including hyperlinks to other web-sites that made decryption software available. UNIVERSAL CITY STUDIOS, INC., et al., Plaintiffs,
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