California Court of Appeal

Preliminary injunction under California's Uniform Trade Secrets Act is reversed. Plaintiff presented no evidence as to when defendant first posted the computer program "DeCSS," and no evidence that the technology therein was still a secret at that time; evidence shows that by the time plaintiff sought the injunction, DeCSS had been so widely distributed that the technology may have lost its trade secret status.

Appellate Information

• Decided 02/27/2004
• Published 02/27/2004

Judges

• PREMO, Acting P.J.

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
•  Richard R. Wiebe, San Francisco;  Hopkins & Carley, Arthur V. Plank, Allonn E. Levy, San Jose;  First Amendment Project, James R. Wheaton, David A. Greene;  Tomlinson Zisko Morosoli & Maser, Thomas E. Moore, III, Palo Alto;  Electronic Frontier Foundation, San Francisco, Cindy A. Cohn, for Defendant-Appellant., Weil, Gotshal & Manges, Redwood Shores, Jared B. Bobrow, Redwood Shores, Christopher J. Cox, Kimberly A. Schmitt, Redwood Shores, Robert G. Sugarman, New York, N.Y., Gregory S. Coleman, Houston, TX, Beth L. Lemberger, New York, for Plaintiffs-Respondents.