Update - they dropped the suit.
Link to story
PETER JACOBS, the chief executive of SunnComm Technologies Inc., told Reuters on Friday the company disputed the conclusion by Princeton student Alex Halderman that its software was “irreparably flawed,” but would not pursue the matter because it did not want to chill academic research.
_ _ _ _Halderman, who is working on a doctorate in computer science, posted a paper on his Web site earlier this week detailing the ways SunnComm’s MediaMax software could be defeated. These included simply holding down the “Shift” key on a keyboard, while loading the disc in to a CD drive.
_ _ _ _SunnComm did not contest that finding, but earlier said the paper cost the company more than $10 million in market capitalization.
_ _ _ _“R&D is our life,” Jacobs said. “It wasn’t our intention to strike a blow against research. We sincerely thought that the research was not founded on the premise for which the technology was invented in the first place.”
_ _ _ _Earlier this year, Phoenix-based SunnComm and BMG, a unit of the German conglomerate Bertelsmann AG, signed a deal for BMG to license SunnComm’s MediaMax CD-3 copy protection software.
_ _ _ _The music industry, faced with slumping CD sales it blames on digital piracy, has actively sought new technologies to cut down on what it sees as rampant copying of compact discs and the sharing of those files online.
_ _ _ _In late September, BMG’s Arista label released “Comin’ From Where I’m From,” a CD from singer Anthony Hamilton. It was the first major release using the SunnComm software.
_ _ _ _In his Web posting, Halderman also explained how to stop the driver that the MediaMax software installs on a computer when the CD is first played, leaving the user free to copy the disc.
_ _ _ _SunnComm said on Thursday it would sue Halderman and urge felony charges against him for alleged violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
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CHANGE OF HEART
_ _ _ _But Jacobs said he had a change of heart.
_ _ _ _“I’m looking at the big picture,” Jacobs said. “I’m feeling better already. (The research) doesn’t dilute our technology at all, nor does it nullify our technology.”
_ _ _ _Halderman’s graduate advisor at Princeton is Ed Felten, a well-known academic who once filed suit against the Recording Industry Association of America after the record industry trade group suggested it would use the DMCA to prosecute Felten for publishing a paper on flaws in an industry-devised digital security system.
_ _ _ _The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has led the charge against the DMCA, also spoke out against SunnComm.
_ _ _ _“What more proof do you need that the DMCA is chilling legitimate research?” EFF senior attorney Fred von Lohmann said in a statement Thursday.
_ _ _ _“In America today, scientists shouldn’t have to fear legal action for publishing the truth. Based on the apparent weakness of its technology, perhaps SunnComm should be hiring more Princeton computer scientists, instead of threatening to sue them.”
_ _ _ _Jacobs, whose company counts the Chinese government as a minority investor, argued the dispute came down to a misunderstanding over the intent of his software.
_ _ _ _“The problem was that he declared this an unrepairable flaw and that was the part that really hurt us,” he said. “He was reviewing a drama when we were writing a comedy.”
Man - Jacobs, the president of Sunncomm sure comes off as an idiot. "He was reviewing a drama when we were writing a comedy." I bet with that quote their investors were reassured and they got half that lost market value back.
not.
I'm glad they realized that it was ridiculous to sue the kid for pointing out that they made a shoddy product.
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