Court rules trade secrets outweigh free speech.

• Position: Up front: news, trends & analysis - Brief Article

The California Supreme Court recently ruled that the First Amendment right to free speech does not mean trade secrets can be published on the Internet with impunity. According to experts, the ruling sets the stage for further legal scrutiny of the balance between the rights of free speech and intellectual property at a time when digital copies of software, music, and movies can be made and distributed effortlessly over the Internet.

The case, filed in 1999, pits a group of large companies--Microsoft, IBM, Twentieth Century Fox, and others--against Andrew Bunner, a computer programmer in Northern California. Bunner is accused of violating trade secrets laws by posting a piece of software on a Web site that cracks the encryption software on DVDs. The program was designed not by Bunner but by a Norwegian teenager.

The court's decision confirms that the First Amendment is not a shield to allow...