On 7/11/02 the NAM joined with Microsoft, AOL Time Warner, Boeing, Ford Motor Company and others in a brief on the merits asking the Supreme Court of California to overturn a lower court's decision allowing a website operator to publish a computer program that will defeat encrypted security codes on DVDs. The issue extends well beyond DVD copying to the routine theft and destruction of the intellectual property of American businesses. We believe an injunction is appropriate and that there is no countervailing right of free speech.
On 8/25/03, the California court agreed, ruling that an injunction against the offending program does not violate the publisher's free speech rights. Although computer code is entitled to protection as speech, the court held that the trade secrets law was "content neutral." Its purpose is to promote and reward innovation and technological development and maintain commercial ethics. This purpose was sufficient to allow a restraint on the website operator.