In the latest saga of the court case where anyone who ever wrote, contributed to, compiled, distributed, linked to or even thought about DeCSS (software used to remove the encryption from DVDs), the Supreme Court have decided that they'd rather have nothing to do with it any more, thanks very much.

"Justice Sandra Day O'Connor placed a ruling by the California Supreme Court on hold last week, but rescinded her emergency stay on Friday.

O'Connor's decision came in response to court papers filed by lawyers for the defendant, Matthew Pavlovich, late Thursday. The effect is that Pavlovich is no longer barred from distributing the DeCSS descrambling utility by a court order, but he could be sued again if he decides to do so."

So its round one to Pavlovich, I'd say, and a score for the good guys IMHO. Still, you think that Hollywood studios and electronics makers will take this lying down?

More here.