Opinion ID: 775783
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: introduction

Text: 20 Understanding the pending appeal and the issues it raises requires some familiarity with technical aspects of computers and computer software, especially software called digital versatile disks or DVDs, which are optical media storage devices currently designed to contain movies. 1 Those lacking such familiarity will be greatly aided by reading Judge Kaplan's extremely lucid opinion, Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Reimerdes, 111 F. Supp. 2d 294 (S.D.N.Y. 2000) (Universal I), beginning with his helpful section The Vocabulary of this Case, id. at 305-09. 21 This appeal concerns the anti-trafficking provisions of the DMCA, which Congress enacted in 1998 to strengthen copyright protection in the digital age. Fearful that the ease with which pirates could copy and distribute a copyrightable work in digital form was overwhelming the capacity of conventional copyright enforcement to find and enjoin unlawfully copied material, Congress sought to combat copyright piracy in its earlier stages, before the work was even copied. The DMCA therefore backed with legal sanctions the efforts of copyright owners to protect their works from piracy behind digital walls such as encryption codes or password protections. In so doing, Congress targeted not only those pirates who would circumvent these digital walls (the anti- circumvention provisions, contained in 17 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(1)), but also anyone who would traffic in a technology primarily designed to circumvent a digital wall (the anti-trafficking provisions, contained in 17 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(2), (b)(1)). 22 Corley publishes a print magazine and maintains an affiliated web site geared towards hackers, a digital-era term often applied to those interested in techniques for circumventing protections of computers and computer data from unauthorized access. The so-called hacker community includes serious computer-science scholars conducting research on protection techniques, computer buffs intrigued by the challenge of trying to circumvent access-limiting devices or perhaps hoping to promote security by exposing flaws in protection techniques, mischief- makers interested in disrupting computer operations, and thieves, including copyright infringers who want to acquire copyrighted material (for personal use or resale) without paying for it. 23 In November 1999, Corley posted a copy of the decryption computer program DeCSS on his web site, http://www.2600.com (2600.com). 2 DeCSS is designed to circumvent CSS, the encryption technologythat motion picture studios place on DVDs to prevent the unauthorized viewing and copying of motion pictures. Corley also posted on his web site links to other web sites where DeCSS could be found. 24 Plaintiffs-Appellees are eight motion picture studios that brought an action in the Southern District of New York seeking injunctive relief against Corley under the DMCA. Following a full non-jury trial, the District Court entered a permanent injunction barring Corley from posting DeCSS on his web site or from knowingly linking via a hyperlink to any other web site containing DeCSS. Universal II, 111 F. Supp. 2d at 346-47. The District Court rejected Corley's constitutional attacks on the statute and the injunction. Universal I, 111 F. Supp. 2d at 325- 45. 25 Corley renews his constitutional challenges on appeal. Specifically, he argues primarily that: (1) the DMCA oversteps limits in the Copyright Clause on the duration of copyright protection; (2) the DMCA as applied to his dissemination of DeCSS violates the First Amendment because computer code is speech entitled to full First Amendment protection and the DMCA fails to survive the exacting scrutiny accorded statutes that regulate speech; and (3) the DMCA violates the First Amendment and the Copyright Clause by unduly obstructing the fair use of copyrighted materials. Corley also argues that the statute is susceptible to, and should therefore be given, a narrow interpretation that avoids alleged constitutional objections.