A former Adobe Systems piracy investigator testified Wednesday that the San Jose-based software company viewed a Russian computer program as a "major problem" to the security of its eBook reader product.
Daryl Spano told a federal jury his division received a lot of pressure to stop the marketing of the Advanced eBook Processor Program by Elcomsoft Co. Ltd. of Moscow. Spano worked for Adobe until last year monitoring the Internet for illegal software as part of the company"s anti-piracy group.
The $99 Elcomsoft program allowed users to circumvent eBook Reader security measures designed to protect the content of digital books sold in bookstores and on the Internet. Elcomsoft and its president, Alex Katalov, are accused of violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in the nation"s first criminal trial under the controversial 1998 law.
"There was high pressure on this case," Spano said. "They didn"t like this kind of stuff out there."