<nettime> McCullagh: Mattel warns cphack mirrors of contempt under TM

["nettime's_roving_reporter" <nettime@bbs.thing.net>]

<http://wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,35216,00.html>

   Mattel Stays on the Offensive
   by Declan McCullagh
   
   12:45 p.m. Mar. 27, 2000 PST
   
   BOSTON -- Upping the stakes in a battle over a utility that reveals
   Cyberpatrol's list of off-limits websites, Mattel threatened mirror
   sites with contempt charges during a court hearing Monday afternoon. 
   
   A subsidiary of Mattel, which sells Cyberpatrol, said the toy giant
   had acquired the copyright to "cphack" from two cryptoanalysts who
   published it on their website earlier this month. 
   
   Mattel attorney Irwin Schwartz advised against anyone thinking of
   distributing cphack from now on. 
   
   "They should be afraid of being hauled into court on contempt
   proceedings," Schwartz said. 
   
   Just hours before the hearing in federal court was scheduled to begin,
   Mattel said it was ready to abandon its lawsuit over cphack, which
   allows owners of Cyberpatrol to view the program's secret encrypted
   blacklist. 
   
   Mattel said it had settled the case with the authors of cphack, but
   wanted a permanent court order that applied to mirror sites. 
   
   The American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing three mirror
   sites, said it did not object to the lawsuit's dismissal -- but it
   wanted to make sure its clients would not be at risk. 
   
   ACLU attorney Chris Hansen asked U.S. District Judge Edward Harrington
   to exempt mirror sites from his order, saying Mattel could simply file
   another suit if it suspected copyright violations. 
   
   "My clients do not want to be put to the test of contempt," Hansen
   said. 
   
   At the end of the hearing, which lasted one hour, Harrington said he
   would consider Hansen's request and decide by Wednesday. Harrington
   said he would continue his earlier temporary restraining order until
   then. 
   
   But he indicated he was a little worried about an order that would
   apply to people who aren't defendants, saying "they have not been
   heard." 
   
   Copyright © 2000 Wired Digital Inc., a Lycos Network site. All rights
   reserved. 
   


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