Is DeCSS Legal In UK?

[Graham]

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On Friday 19 Jul 2002 9:07 am, Peter Tomlinson wrote:

> The old law of unintended consequences seems to rear its head. Feature
> films on celluloid are released across the world region by region at
> different times. I reckon DVD regionalisation follows the same methodol=
ogy,
> but was it done for the same reason? And what was the original reason f=
or
> region by region release of films? Perhaps just logistics of manufactur=
e of
> prints, physical distribution, and organisation of marketing?
>
> Peter

Maybe the DVD encryption follows existing practice for celluloid (as thou=
gh=20
they were the same media), but having the software on my Linux computer t=
o=20
read those DVDs (without having to travel to the US or Hong Kong to do so=
)=20
cannot be a copyright issue as I'm not copying the DVD or its contents, j=
ust=20
playing them and the software allows me to do this.

The possibility exists that there is a patent issue here if the producer =
of=20
the software infringed the original patent for DVD encryption.  My=20
information (and I could be wrong here) is that he found a different way =
to=20
play DVDs and there was no patent infringement.  The encryption is still=20
there, it is not broken, just ignored by the software.

It is clear that a photocopier can be used to infringe copyright, but the=
y are=20
not banned.  In the same way, illegal copies of DVDs could be played on a=
=20
computer with this software, but that doesn't make the software illegal. =
=20
Unless there are other laws which prohibit this.....
- --=20

Graham
GPG Key ID E935DB9D

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