Publisher Drops Case Over Copying DVDs

The publisher of a hackers magazine ended a 2 1/2-year legal battle with Hollywood’s major studios, agreeing to drop a case over copying DVDs.

Eric Corley, who operates the 2600 magazine and Web site, chose not to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court a ruling that ordered him to remove links to decryption software written by someone else. Corley’s attorneys unsuccessfully had argued that publishing the program was free speech.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, the civil liberties group that represented Corley, pledged to challenge a controversial 1998 copyright law making it illegal to produce or distribute software that could circumvent copy protections.