US v. ElcomSoft Sklyarov

Infobox Court Case
name = U.S. v. ElcomSoft and Dmitry Sklyarov
court = U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San José Division


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full_name = The United States of America "versus" Elcom Ltd., also known as ElcomSoft Co. Ltd., and Dmitry Sklyarov
date_decided = ElcomSoft acquitted on December 17, 2002
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prior_actions = Dmitry Sklyarov dropped from prosecution in exchange for agreeing to testify and to leave the U.S.
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The United States v. ElcomSoft and Dmitry Sklyarov was a 2001-2 criminal case in which Dmitry Sklyarov and his employer ElcomSoft were charged with trafficking in, and offering to the public, a software program that could circumvent technological protections on copyrighted material, in violation of [http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/usc_sec_17_00001201----000-.html Section 1201(b)(1)(A)&(C)] of Title 17 of the United States Code (the Copyright Acts, including most of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act), as well as [http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/usc_sec_18_00000002----000-.html Sections 2] (Aiding and Abetting) and [http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/usc_sec_18_00000371----000-.html 371] (Conspiracy) of Title 18, Part I, of the United States Code (the Federal Criminal Code).

Details

On July 16, 2001, Dmitry Sklyarov, a Russian citizen employed by the Russian company ElcomSoft who was at the time visiting the United States for a computer conference, was arrested and jailed for allegedly violating the United States' Digital Millennium Copyright Act (of 1998) by writing ElcomSoft's Advanced eBook Processor software. [cite web |url=http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hilden/20010810.html |title=The first amendment issues raised by the troubling prosecution of e-book hacker Dmitry Sklyarov ]

The original issue came to the attention of prosecutors when Adobe Systems, a US company, complained that copy protection arrangements in its e-book file format were being illegally circumvented by ElcomSoft's product. Adobe withdrew its complaint, but United States Department of Justice prosecutors (under the authority of local U.S. Attorney Robert S. Mueller, now Director of the FBI) declined to likewise drop the charges. ElcomSoft's product, and thus presumably the efforts of its employees including Sklyarov, were entirely legal in Russia. Sklyarov was eventually released on bail, but forced to remain in California, separated from his family, until his case concluded.

Protests ensued, coordinated from the website "freesklyarov.org". The US government agreed to drop all charges filed against Sklyarov, provided that he testify at the trial of his company. He was permitted to return to Russia.

On 17 December 2002, after a two-week trial, a federal jury found ElcomSoft not guilty of all four charges under the DMCA.

The case raised some concerns particularly since it involved an individual being prosecuted for activities that were fully legal in the country where they occurred.Fact|date=September 2008

References

External links

* [http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hilden/20010810.html Findlaw.com's article on the case]