News

Ind. student can’t be sued in California for online content, high court says

CALIFORNIA ? The California Supreme Court ruled on Monday that a company could not sue an Indiana college student in a California court for copyright infringement.In the 4-3 decision, the court said the state had no jurisdiction over a lawsuit brought by the DVD Copy Control Association against Matthew Pavlovich, a former Purdue University student who published codes online in 1999 that allowed users to unscramble encrypted DVDs. The court said that Pavlovich, who has never been a resident of California, did not specifically seek to harm businesses there.

Mahaffey v. Aldrich

In 2001, Joshua Mahaffey was suspended from school when he created a website called “Satan’s web page.” The website included lists of “movies that rock,” “music I hate,” “music that’s cool,” “people that are cool” and “people I wish would die.” The bottom of the website featured a mission from Satan to violently kill someone for him, followed by a disclaimer asking people not to do so.

Mahaffey v. Aldrich

In 2001, Joshua Mahaffey was suspended from school when he created a website called “Satan’s web page.” The website included lists of “movies that rock,” “music I hate,” “music that’s cool,” “people that are cool” and “people I wish would die.” The bottom of the website featured a mission from Satan to violently kill someone for him, followed by a disclaimer asking people not to do so.

Utah Supreme Court throws out criminal libel law

UTAH ? A 126-year-old statute that made libel a criminal act was ruled overly broad and unconstitutional last week by the state supreme court.The case before the court dates back to 2000 when Ian Lake, a then 16-year-old student at Milford High School, was arrested and charged with one count of criminal libel and one count of criminal slander after posting derogatory comments on his Web site.