Prosecutors in the retrial of the Norwegian hacker who cracked DVD copy-protection code and subsequently was accused of cracking Apple's iTunes Music Store protection codes are demanding a suspended 90-day jail term for the hacker known as DVDJon.
The final verdict in the retrial of Jon Johansen is expected to come Dec. 22, according to Reuters, and the movie industry is watching very closely because the case may set a legal precedent. And no matter the verdict, either or both sides can appeal to Norway's Supreme Court.
Norway's Economic Crime Unit pursued Johansen on behalf of the Motion Picture Association of America, after Johansen first cracked DVD copy-protection with his DeCSS program that he posted on the Internet a few years ago. According to Reuters, state prosecutor Inger Marie Sunde told the court that prosecutors would also accept a 45-day sentence – also, likely, suspended – if the court dismissed the MPAA argument that Johansen had damaged the film industry, which claims piracy costs it $3 billion a year in lost sales.
"It is perhaps too great a responsibility to put on Jon Johansen's shoulders," Sunde was quoted as telling the court.
An Oslo district court ruled earlier this year that Johansen could do as he wished with the DVDs he bought legally, and that prosecutors didn't prove DeCSS was used for illegal copying. But prosecutors appealed, leading to the current retrial. Johansen's defense argued consumer rights to do as they please with what they buy. "When you buy a DVD film you are buying the right to watch it," attorney Halvor Manshaus argued. "How you choose to do that is up to you."
