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SunnComm Threatens Suit Over Shift Key Circumvention
posted by turmis on Friday October 10, @07:54AM
from the we-were-hoping-no-one-would-notice! dept.
News Greplaw reported earlier that Princeton University Grad Student John Halderman had broken SunnComm's copy protection scheme by holding down his shift key. Yesterday SunnComm's CEO, Peter Jacobs claimed that Halderman's report was based on incorrect assumptions and false conclusions. Responding to a sharp drop in SunnComm's stock prices (to the tune of $10 million) Jacobs stated that the company intends to take legal action against Halderman and Princeton. Jacobs claims that Halderman has violated the DMCA by...

disabling the driver in order to make an unlicensed copy and by disseminating his report in a manner that facilitates infringement by others.

Jacobs stated, "This cat-and-mouse game that hackers and others like to play with owners of digital property is over. No matter what their credentials or rationale, it is wrong to use one's knowledge and the cover of academia to facilitate piracy and theft of digital property. SunnComm is taking a stand here because we believe that those who own property, whether physical or digital, have the ultimate authority over how their property is used. Owning copying technology is not an unconditional 'free pass' to replicate or distribute protected work." Read More at Yahoo Read Paul Levy's response to the threats of suit or a scary notice of suit which makes these comments all the more relevant, and even more on the issue in the politech archives.

NHTCU Looking for Clues with AV Firms | Misery and Intellectual Property Rights  >

 

 
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    SunnComm Threatens Suit Over Shift Key Circumvention | Login/Create an Account | Top | 4 comments | Search Discussion
    Threshold:
    The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
    There could be another slant (Score:1)
    by TomWiles on Friday October 10, @09:42AM (#1322)
    User #396 Info
    Guys:

    Has anyone considered the possiblility that the students published article was a 'Honey Pot' designed to draw a legal response.

    If the article had been published with Professor Felten as the author, the article would have been avoided like the plague by the recording industry. Felten can not be intimidated and would like nothing better than another opportunity to challenge this particular interpretation of the law.

    Consider what we know.

    1. The student's faculty advisor is Ed Felten.

    2. The student is a member of Professor Felten's research team.

    3. The major product produced by Princeton is lawyers.

    The article posted by the student appears to be very well written (as in carefully) and appears to exploit the weaknesses of the DMCA should action be taken against the author.

    One just has to wonder who is the agressor here. If SunnComm actually files against the student, the battle is going to take place on ground prepared by the defense team in advance.

    This could be a very interesting and instructive case.

    Tom
    Re:There could be another slant (Score:0)
    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 10, @05:03PM (#1327)
    "3. The major product produced by Princeton is lawyers."
    Maybe in a general sense, but its worth noting that Princeton has no law school. I think its true that the report might've been designed with the DMCA in mind.
    misleading headline (Score:0)
    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 10, @11:18AM (#1323)
    First of all, the head line "Sunncomm sues" is misleading as they never filed anything, just announced their intention to sue. Second of all, before this was even posted Sunncomm had already declared they had changed their mind and will not be suing.
    Re:misleading headline (Score:1)
    by turmis (atullman@law.harvard.edu) on Friday October 10, @02:17PM (#1326)
    User #25 Info | http://www.geocities.com/atullman
    True enough on the headline, I changed it for you. You can read about the retraction on Felten's weblog. [freedom-to-tinker.com] It is true that the entry went up after I posted the story, but I wrote it last night, ah well.

    Humanity has the stars in its future, and that future is too important to be lost under the burden of juvenile folly and ignorant superstition. - Isaac Asimov

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