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The U.S. Supreme Court has given a break to a Texas student accused by an industry group of violating trade secrets laws involving DVD copy protection.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on Friday lifted a temporary stay that had kept a California Supreme Court ruling from taking effect. The California court had ruled in November that Texas resident and Purdue University student Matthew Pavlovich could not be sued in California courts.

The stay was requested by the DVD Copy Control Association (DVD CCA). The industry group wanted to prosecute Pavolvich for violating California's law governing trade secrets by posting a copy of the DeCSS (De-Content Scramble System) software on a Web site.

But the California Supreme Court denied jurisdiction, saying that "the mere posting of information on a passive Internet Web site, which is accessible from anywhere but is directed at no particular audience, cannot be an action targeted at a particular (state)."

Others May Benefit

The ruling does not prevent the DVD CCA from petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to review the ruling, cautioned Cindy Cohn, legal director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which supported Pavlovich's attorneys. However, she said O'Connor's action was a good sign.

"I'm very pleased. It's good news," Cohn said. She said O'Connor's ruling makes it unlikely the high court would agree to review the case.

In the meantime, the ruling on Pavlovich's case is likely to lift the legal threat posed to some of the more than 50 individuals and organizations named in the suit, Cohn said.

Those individuals who, like Pavlovich, lack direct links to California or the DeCSS software would be unlikely to find themselves called to answer in California state court, Cohn said.

However, an attorney for the DVD CCA declined to say whether legal action will continue against the other individuals named in the case.

"The client will decide what's the best way to proceed," in those actions and a possible appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, said Jeffrey Kessler, a partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges.

Suit History

The DVD CCA contends Pavlovich intended to harm the computer hardware industry involved in producing CSS-encrypted DVD players, which Pavlovich knew was centered in California.

The DVD CCA filed an application for a stay on the California ruling on December 26. The stay was granted by O'Connor pending a response from Pavlovich's attorney.

Legal experts familiar with the case saw the application for a stay as an effort to keep Pavlovich from posting the DeCSS software on his Web site.

Others predicted O'Connor would continue the stay order while the U.S. Supreme Court waited for the DVD CCA to file a petition asking it to review the California Supreme Court's decision.

On Friday, however, O'Connor issued an order saying that she had reviewed the response from Pavlovich's attorneys and was vacating her earlier stay, essentially denying the DVD CCA further relief from the California ruling, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Supreme Court.

Next Step Unclear

DVD CCA attorney Kessler expressed disappointment with the ruling.

"It's hard to get the Supreme Court to take action on any subject, but we felt the stay was the right decision," Kessler said. His firm would have to talk to the DVD CCA before deciding what to do, he added.

However, the DVD CCA is keeping all its options open, including a petition to have the U.S. Supreme Court hear the case and the possibility of continued legal action against Pavlovich, perhaps in state court in Texas, Kessler said.

"We have tried to get Mr. Pavlovich to agree that he would not distribute (the DeCSS software), but he has left it up in the air what he would do and refused to indicate what his intentions are. We'll have to take that into account in deciding how we will proceed," Kessler said.

EFF attorney Cohn said that she expects the DVD CCA to continue fighting the case against each defendant, but expressed hope that the order by Justice O'Connor would hasten legal proceedings that she and the EFF now consider devoid of meaning.

"I think its time for this witch hunt to stop. DeCSS is available all over the world. The only people benefiting from this are the trial lawyers being paid tremendous amounts of money by the entertainment companies," Cohn said.

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