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The case of Sklyarov, ElcomSoft, Adobe, and the DMCA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
On July 16, 2001, Dmitry Sklyarov, a Russian citizen employed by ElcomSoft who was at the time visiting the United States for a computer conference, was arrested and jailed for allegedly violating the United States DMCA law by writing ElcomSoft's Advanced eBook Processor software.
The original issue came to the attention of prosecutors when Adobe Systems, a US company, complained that copy prevention arrangements in its e-book file format were being violated by ElcomSoft's product. Adobe withdrew its complaint, but United States Department of Justice prosecutors declined to likewise drop the charges. ElcomSoft's product, and thus presumably the efforts of its employees including Sklyarov, were entirely legal in Russia. Sklyarov was eventually released on bail, but forced to remain separated from his family in California until his case concluded.
Protests ensued, coordinated from the website www.freesklyarov.org. Possibly as a result of these protests, the US government agreed to drop all charges filed against Sklyarov, provided that he testify at the trial of his company. He was permitted to return to Russia.
On December 17, 2002, ElcomSoft was found not guilty of all four charges under the DMCA.
The case raised some concerns particularly since it involved an individual being prosecuted for activities which were fully legal in the country where they occurred. Many considered this a somewhat frightening slippery slope, especially in view of some nations banning display of certain symbols, or drinking of alcohol.