Software firm acquitted in first digital copyright law case
By Howard Mintz for the Arizona Daily Star.

The jury, however, sided with ElcomSoft, which maintained since the case broke into the public spotlight last year that it believed it was marketing a legal product and was unaware that it was violating the DMCA. Jurors said after the verdict that the government failed to prove that ElcomSoft willfully intended to violate U.S. copyright laws, the high standard required to obtain a conviction under the 4-year-old copyright act…
Dennis Strader, the jury foreman, noted that ElcomSoft openly sold its software, taking no steps to conceal its conduct before being warned of problems by Adobe. Strader added that some jurors were concerned about the scope of the law and whether it curtailed the “fair use” of material simply because it was electronic.
“Under the eBook formats, you have no rights at all, and the jury had trouble with that concept,” Strader said.

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http://www.azstarnet.com/public/startech/wire1.html
SN: Fri 12.20.02
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