"DVD-Jon" Demands Compensation

orzetto writes "Jon Lech Johansen, known as DVD-Jon, and aquitted in a trial in Norway, after being accused of infringement for making a GUI for DeCSS, is now demanding that Norwegian Oekokrim pay for all the time and money he has lost to the trial, claiming 150,000 NOK (about 17,500 euros)."

He deserves it

[Albertosaurus]

They wasted enough of his time and money.

Give it a shot..

[dave1212]

Fair enough, the bills are quite expensive, does he get a piece of the DeCSS shirts on ThinkGeek? (only half joking)

If nothing else, he might raise more public interest and get donations that way.

Add this guy...

[syphax]

... to the Pantheon of Geeks.

Re:Microsoft

[schatten]

If Jon wins this case, then that will give him the upper hand on getting more money from the MPAA at a later date. Going for small chunks of change, the ~$22K USD, in this case, would provide him with a stronger legal ground.

Good luck Jon, you deserve the dollars for your wasted time!

I'm actually surprised

[seidleroniman]

This went on for quite a while, i'm surprised that the number isnt much higher (like in the 75k range).

Counter-suit

[MasterC]

Someone sues me and wastes my time (the more important part) and money then you betcha I'd sue back. Although it sounds Jon is just demanding and not suing.

I hope this isn't considered a surprise...to anyone.

Civil vs Criminal

[JasonUCF]

IANALBIPOOSWIAB (I am not a lawyer but I play one on slashdot when I am bored) --

In da US they call thems dere sorts of stuff 'Wrongful Prosecution'. I wonder how they would handle this in Norvay. I mean, as I understood it when it was escalated to the higher court it was a civil-type charge. Wrongful Pros cases in the US historically deal with criminal prosecutions. yes yes, I know nothing of norvegian law, yes yes i'll stfu, sorry...

Why he would only ask for $22k...

[jamonterrell]

My theory is that he simply wants the money and wants it now. I'd much rather ask for $22k and have the other company settle immediately than the alternative. If he asks for $150 the court will say it didn't really cost him that much and lower the amount to $75k. Subtract the $50K of lawyer fees it would take him to SUE THEM for the money and he's left with $25k. It's in everyone's interest to ask for a more reasonable amount and just settle out of court.

Jamon

It's not the USD value, it's the purchasing power

[Random Guru 42]

I just had to bitch about something in the article. "It's a modest claim by international standards, amounting to around USD 20,000."

That doesn't matter at all. Does the 150,000NOK have the same purchasing power in Norway as 20,000USD has in the states? If not, the comparison is completely worthless.

If it costs 4CAD for a carton of large eggs here and 24XXX for the same in some fictional country, but the exchange rate is 1XXX for every 2CAD, then they certainly don't have the same purchasing power, do they?

Re:Although I support his position/work on DeCSS

[vidarh]

I don't agree. If the trial was about establishing precedent, then I believe he would clearly be entitled to compensation. Norway has a strong tradition for compensating people in cases where the government prosecutor pursued a case based on incomplete evidence or seemingly based on other considerations than the merits of the case.

If the court action has been a benefit to him over all he will be unlikely to get much, as that would be taken into account, but if he believe he can meet the criteria then he should follow this through - the compensation arrangement is there specifically to provide relief to ensure that the government can't use prosecution in itself as a punishment in cases where they can't expect a conviction.

(ObDisclaimer: IANAL)

Re:You win, don't pay

[thayner]

Makes sense again if you say that the most you have to pay if you lose is the amount you spent on your own lawyers (and using what your lawyer would have charged for an hourly rate if you were paying on contingency). So the poor retired woman who was only able to spend five thousand on her case would only need to cough up another 5k even if the opposing lawyers cost a half million.

Does he take PayPal?

[stuffduff]

Hell, I'd give a couple of bucks!

Re:FYI

[Shakrai]

As this was a criminal case, he got a free defender from the Norvegian state.

Are the free lawyers actually any good in Norway? Speaking as someone with experience in being charged with a crime I didn't commit, I had the choice of going with the public defender (who, to quote from a movie whose name I can't remember, "Will personally escort you to the electric chair") or coughing up the $150/hr to get a real lawyer I coughed up the money.

Eight months and $12,000 later I was cleared of the charges. I'm out that $12,000 but at least I don't have a criminal record (or worse -- living in a 8x10 cell). Our public defenders are overworked, underpaid, underappreciated people whose primary job consists of taking DWI cases. I wouldn't trust them for anything more serious then that -- and this is in a fairly progressive state (New York). I'd really love to live in Texas where the PDs have a nice habit of showing up drunk and passing out in the middle of your capital murder case.

DVD-Jon is not a hero

[Anonymous Coward]

Jon Johansen is not the hero for open source software as he likes to describe himself lately.

The truth is, he is a liar, a defender of closed source software, ignorant to the GPL and a guy who simply wanted to copy DVDs. His lies lead most of us to believe that he is a good guy and got him even free a legal team paid by EFF.

Read more about DVD-Jon:
http://www.chscene.ch/ccc/decss/decsstruth.txt [chscene.ch]

Re:You win, don't pay

[Crashmarik]

The little guy doesn't get justice the lawyers get a windfall.

Don't kid yourself, Elderly couple sues walmart because an overstuffed shopping bag broke, psychic sues MRI center for causing loss of psychic abilities, crook sues home owner for injuring him during the course of a burglary. The lawyers win, everyone else gets screwed in ways too numerous to measure.

There is a desperate need for tort reform. There is an even more desperate need to make certain lawyers do not wield total control of the legal process.

Re:FYI

[kentmartin]

National service is a repugnant concept unto itself. Frankly I don't care whether you got out of it for completely selfish reasons, genuine medical reasons or as some sort of protest against the very idea, I am just pleased that you did.

How anybody can be an advocate of forcing someone to spend their time and energy to kill people or assist those doing the killing in some sort of misguided notion of compulsary patriotism is utterly beyond me.

If not wanting to hurt others or put myself into situations where I am likely to suffer injury is cowardly then damn right, put a massive stamp across my forehead and paint a bright yellow stripe up my back, but you sure as hell aren't gonna get me to join the armed forces unless I have good reasons of my own for doing so.

As for taxpayers footing the bill, bloody oath they should, if the taxpayers are trying to force someone to do something that they are not legally required to do then I fail to see any reason on earth why they, the taxpayers, shouldn't cough up for attempting to maintain an injustice. How else do you think systems get shaken up and reevaluated. Ahhh... you come from that world were only those with the cash to back their beliefs have a right to assert their rights and or principles.

Re:FYI

[vidarh]

First of all, less than 40% of all Norwegian boys complete military service. It is by no means universal, and who gets out of it is to a large part a result of chance and whether or not you happen to be depressed, lazy, willing to lie, or had any type of medical condition when you happened to be processed.

That's the first injustice - the decision of whether or not you have to serve is arbitrary.

The second is that it is forced upon you. You are forced to accept a chain of command and rules that may see you forced to take up arms in a situation where it would be against your moral and ethics to do so. I would never accept putting myself in a situation where I was bound to participate in the invasion of another country for instance.

I stood up for myself, and was prepared to take the consequences, may include a prison sentence. As I'm currently a UK resident I'm temporarily out of the system, but if I move back to Norway before my 47th birtday I still face that possibility - I'd rather take the time in prison than accept to be forced to serve, despite the fact that I would likely face at least 7 months in prison, versus the 6 months of service they tried to draft me for the last time.

Personally I see much more bravery in being ready to accept prison than in silently accepting whatever the government asks of you regardless of how it fits with your moral and ethical standards.

(for the non-Norwegians: 6 months is the minimum, 18 months the maximum I think, unless they've changed it again since I moved to the UK)