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ElcomSoft's Copyright Charges Stand

Russian software developer will go to trial in May under Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Matt Berger, IDG News Service

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SAN FRANCISCO--Following several failed attempts by Russian software company ElcomSoft to shake its charges of federal copyright infringement, the case is now expected to go to trial later in May.

ElcomSoft is charged with violating the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). It is targeted for creating and distributing software that lets users bypass the copyright protection system in Adobe's eBook file format.

Dismissal Denied

A federal judge on Wednesday denied the latest of several motions filed by ElcomSoft to dismiss the case. This time, the company argued that the DMCA violated several of its rights under the U.S. Constitution. In particular, it argued that the DMCA is too vague as applied to this case and violates its Fifth Amendment right to due process.

The judge also rejected ElcomSoft's argument that the DMCA violated several of its First Amendment rights, including its right to free speech.

Judge Ronald Whyte of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, in San Jose, has already denied previous motions by ElcomSoft to dismiss the case. One was based on a claim that the case is out of the jurisdiction of the U.S. court. Attorneys for ElcomSoft said the matter took place primarily on the Internet, not in the U.S.

Trial Set

A trial date has now been set for May 20, at which time Whyte is expected to set the schedule for the remainder of the case, according to a spokesperson for ElcomSoft.

ElcomSoft is being prosecuted for distributing a program called Advanced eBook Processor. The company and one of its programmers, Dmitry Sklyarov, were charged with violating the DMCA after Sklyarov presented information about the product at the Def Con hacker conference in Las Vegas last July. The matter drew protests that prompted Adobe to withdraw its complaint.

The charges against Sklyarov were dropped in exchange for a guarantee that Sklyarov would testify in the upcoming case against his employer.

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