WEIL, GOTSHAL & MANGES LLP

JARED B. BOBROW (State Bar. No. 133712)

2882 Sand Hill Road, Suite 280

Menlo Park, California 94025

Telephone:  (650) 926-6200

Facsimile:  (650) 854-3713

OF COUNSEL:

WEIL, GOTSHAL & MANGES LLP

ROBERT G. SUGARMAN*

JEFFREY L. KESSLER*

767 Fifth Avenue

New York, New York 10153

Telephone:  (212) 310-8000

Facsimile:  (212) 310-8007

Attorneys for Plaintiff

DVD Copy Control Association, Inc.

Additional Counsel Listed On The Signature Page

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA

DVD COPY CONTROL ASSOCIATION, INC., a  not-for-profit trade association,

Plaintiff,

v.

ANDREW THOMAS MCLAUGHLIN, an individual; ANDREW BUNNER, an individual; JOHN V. KEW, an individual; SCOTT KARLINS, an individual; GLENN ROSENBLATT, an individual; DALE EMMONS, an individual, EMMANUEL GOLDSTEIN, an individual; DOUGLAS R. WINSLOW, an individual; JONATHAN BLANK, an individual; ROGER KUMAR, an individual; ROBERT JONES, an individual; EN HONG, an individual; MATTHEW ROBERT PAVOLICH, an individual; IAN A. GULLIVER, an individual; JON HANSON, an individual; DAVID M. CHAN, an individual; CAMERON SIMPSON, an individual; TOM VOGT, an individual; CYRIL AMSELLEM, an individual; THORSTEN FENK, an individual; ADRIAN BAUGH, an individual and DOES 1-500, inclusive.

Defendants.

Case No.

 

COMPLAINT FOR

INJUNCTIVE RELIEF FOR MISAPPROPRIATION OF

TRADE SECRETS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                Plaintiff, the DVD Copy Control Association, Inc. (“DVD CCA”), by its attorneys, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, for its Complaint, alleges as follows:

INTRODUCTION

1.                  Plaintiff, DVD CCA, a trade association and the sole licensing entity for Digital Video Disc (“DVD”) technology, brings this action to enjoin defendant web site owners (“Defendants”) from their continued misappropriation of trade secrets licensed by DVD CCA.  DVD CCA is informed and believes, and based thereon alleges that Defendants have disclosed, and continue knowingly and willfully to disclose, proprietary information on their Internet web sites as part of a scheme to defeat DVD encryption software which thus enables users to illegally pirate copies of DVD videos.

2.                  The named defendants, and certain Doe defendants, continue their unauthorized posting of proprietary information -- which they either obtained by improper means or knew or should have known was obtained by others by improper means -- despite the fact that cease and desist letters were sent to their web sites demanding that such proprietary information be taken down from their sites.  After receiving such notice, many such web sites voluntarily removed the proprietary information at issue from their sites.  Certain defendants have not received any notice to date because their existence has only recently come to the attention of DVD CCA.

3.                  Defendants’ posting of the proprietary information licensed by DVD CCA on their web sites has caused the illegal pirating of the motion picture industry’s copyrighted content contained on DVDs.  Defendants’ actions threaten the financial stability of this new digital video format for viewing movies and other images -- which has thus far been well received by the consuming public.  Additionally, Defendants’ actions threaten the very existence of DVD CCA and the hundreds of companies involved in the DVD industry, including 73 companies in California of which there are 42 in this county and an additional 17 in other Bay area locations.  Moreover, if Defendants are not restrained and enjoined, their unchecked illegal activities will chill future technological innovation in the motion picture, consumer electronics and computer industries and discourage other industries from making their content available to the public (as the motion picture industry has done here) in new formats.

PARTIES

The Plaintiff

4.                  Plaintiff, DVD CCA, is a not-for-profit trade association organized under the laws of the State of Delaware and has its principal place of business at 225 B Cochrane Circle, Morgan Hill, California.  DVD CCA is the sole licensor of a proprietary system for the encryption and decryption of data contained on DVDs known as the Content Scramble System (or “CSS”).

The Defendants

5.                  DVD CCA is informed and believes, and based thereon alleges, that defendant Andrew Thomas McLaughlin (“McLaughlin”) is a citizen of the State of California, and operates an Internet web site addressed as mclaughlin.orange.ca.us/~andrew.

6.                  DVD CCA is informed and believes, and based thereon alleges, that defendant Andrew Bunner (“Bunner”) is a citizen of the State of California, and operates an Internet web site addressed as www.sharedlib.org/decss.zip.

7.                  DVD CCA is informed and believes, and based thereon alleges, that defendant John V. Kew (“Kew”) is a citizen of the State of California, and operates an Internet web site addressed as www.logorrhea.com/deCSS.html.

8.                  DVD CCA is informed and believes, and based thereon alleges, that defendant Scott Karlins (“Karlins”) is a citizen of the State of Georgia, and operates an Internet web site addressed as www.theresistance.net/files.html.

9.                  DVD CCA is informed and believes, and based thereon alleges, that defendant Glenn Rosenblatt (“Rosenblatt”) is a citizen of the State of New York, and operates an Internet web site addressed as www.pzcommunications.com/decss/main.html.

10.              DVD CCA is informed and believes, and based thereon alleges, that defendant Dale Emmons (“Emmons”) is a citizen of the State of Wisconsin, and operates an Internet web site addressed as www.frozenlinux.com/civ/decss.

11.              DVD CCA is informed and believes, and based thereon alleges, that defendant Emmanuel Goldstein (“Goldstein”) is a citizen of the State of New York, and operates an Internet web site addressed as www.2600.com/news/1999/1112.html.

12.              DVD CCA is informed and believes, and based thereon alleges, that defendant Douglas R. Winslow (“Winslow”) is a citizen of the State of Maryland, and operates Internet web sites addressed as douglas.min.net/~drw/css-auth and Chatzone.org/~drw/css-auth.

13.              DVD CCA is informed and believes, and based thereon alleges, that defendant Jonathan Blank (“Blank”) is a citizen of the State of Oklahoma, and operates an Internet web site addressed as caspian.twu.net/dvd.

14.              DVD CCA is informed and believes, and based thereon alleges, that defendant Roger Kumar (“Kumar”) is a citizen of the State of Pennsylvania, and operates an Internet web site addressed as www.bigteam.org.

15.              DVD CCA is informed and believes, and based thereon alleges, that defendant Robert Jones (“Jones”) is a citizen of the State of South Carolina, and operates an Internet web site addressed as www.dev.zero.org/freecss.html.

16.              DVD CCA is informed and believes, and based thereon alleges, that defendant En Hong (“Hong”) is a citizen of the State of Georgia, and operates an Internet web site addressed as www.dvd-digest.com.

17.              DVD CCA is informed and believes, and based thereon alleges, that defendant Matthew Robert Pavolich (“Pavolich”) is a citizen of the State of Indiana, and operates an Internet web site addressed as www.livid.on.openprojects.net.

18.              DVD CCA is informed and believes, and based thereon alleges, that defendant Ian A. Gulliver (“Gulliver”) is a citizen of the State of New York, and operates an Internet web site addressed as www.gullii.stu.rpi.edu/dvd.

19.              DVD CCA is informed and believes, and based thereon alleges, that defendant Jon Hanson (“Hanson”) is a citizen of the State of Kansas, and operates an Internet web site addressed as www.jonhanson.com/dvd.

20.              DVD CCA is informed and believes, and based thereon alleges, that defendant David M. Chan (“Chan”) is a citizen of the State of Minnesota, and operates an Internet web site addressed as www.dumn.edu/~dchan/css.

21.              DVD CCA is informed and believes, and based thereon alleges, that defendant Cameron Simpson (“Simpson”) resides in Dundas Valley, Australia, and operates an Internet web site addressed as www.zip.com.au/~cs.

22.              DVD CCA is informed and believes, and based thereon alleges, that defendant Tom Vogt (“Vogt”) resides in Wedel, Denmark, and operates an Internet web site addressed as www.lemuria.org/DeCSS.

23.              DVD CCA is informed and believes, and based thereon alleges, that defendant Cyril Amsellem (“Amsellem”) resides in Val de Marne, France, and operates an Internet web site addressed as www.dvd-area.com.

24.              DVD CCA is informed and believes, and based thereon alleges, that defendant Thorsten Fenk (“Fenk”) resides in the country of Germany, and operates an Internet web site addressed as tasam.com/~fenkt/dvd.

25.              DVD CCA is informed and believes, and based thereon alleges, that defendant Adrian Baugh (“Baugh”) resides in Oxford, England, and operates an Internet web site addressed as merlin.kebble.ox.ac.uk/~adrian/css/mirrors.html.

26.              DVD CCA is unaware of the true names and/or capacities of the defendants sued herein under the fictitious names Does 1-500, pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure Section 474, who each were responsible in some way for the acts and omissions complained of herein.  DVD CCA will seek leave of court to amend the complaint to allege such names and capacities at such time as they are ascertained.

27.              DVD CCA is informed and believes, and based thereon alleges, that each of the Doe defendants 1 through 26 operate Internet web sites, at the below addresses, which disseminate confidential proprietary CSS information and also provide “links” to other web sites which disseminate such information:

Doe
Defendant

Web Site

 

1.         

www.free-dvd.org.lu

2.         

josefine.ben.tuwien.ac.at/~david/dvd

3.         

rockme.virtualave.net/

4.         

amor.rz.hu-berlin.de/~h0444t2v

5.         

www.homestead.com/_ksi0701961562917005/avoid…/index.htm

6.         

www.anglefire.com/jazz/avoiderman/

7.         

www.intelcities.com/Main_Street/Avoiderman/

8.         

www.members.theglobe.com/avoiderman/dvd.htm

9.         

members.zoom.com/_XMCM/lkjhgfdsa2/index.html

10.      

www.vexed.net/CSS/

11.      

www.unitycode.org/

12.      

batman.jytol.fi/~vuori/dvd/

13.      

www.zpok.demon.co.uk/

14.      

www.dvdlinks.co.uk/css/

15.      

www.twistedlogic.com/archive/dvd

16.      

www.capital.net/~wooly/

17.      

geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/Campus/8877/index.htmlgeocities.com/ResearchTriangle/Campus/8877/index.html

18.      

www.angelfire.com/mt/popefelix/

19.      

members.tripod.lycos.nl/jvz/

20.      

tv.acmecity.com/parody/356/index.html

21.      

cryptome.org/dvd-free.htm

22.      

altern.org/bettina/0a0a.html

23.      

www.crosswinds.net/~valo/DeCSS/

24.      

info.astercity.net/~nicodem/

25.