By Joey Gardiner, 14 December 2001 15:35
NEWS Charges against Russian developer Dmitri Skylarov have been dropped by a Californian court under the condition that he testifies against his former employers. Skylarov, whose arrest in July under US copyright laws caused a worldwide storm of protest, struck a deal with the US government yesterday ensuring he won't be prosecuted. His employer, Russian software firm Elcomsoft, is taking his place as sole defendant. A spokesman said the company was happy to do this because it stopped it having to worry about Dmitri going to jail. It added it was convinced it would win the case. Skylarov was arrested under the US's new Digital Millennium Copyright Act at the DefCon developer conference this year after he demonstrated a product enabling Adobe's e-book software to be copied. The FBI says the program is illegal in the US under the new law, but Elcomsoft denies this. Although the deal does not let Skylarov off the hook completely, he will now be allowed to return to Russia to his family. He has had to live in California since his release from prison on $50,000 bail in August.
In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.
Log in or create your silicon.com account below