At MPAA request, judge kicks public out of RealDVD court

In an unusual development, Judge Marilyn Patel kicked out the public from the RealDVD injunction hearing, saying that details of DVD encryption were trade secrets that need to be protected. Real and Cnet objected strenuously, as News.com reports.

"I find that this does meet the requirements for a trade secret," Patel said. "We're going to protect what needs to be protected. I'm ordering everyone not signed off on a confidentiality agreement to leave the courtroom." "The MPAA is trying to seal proprietary specifications," said DVD-CCA attorney Reginald Steer. He added: "This is critical to our presentation."

The Electronic Frontier Foundation and Cnet complained that MPAA was disingenuous in the extreme in obtaining a closure at the last minute.

"[The judge] implied that we should have filed a motion preemptively," EFF's Corynne McSherry said. "If that's true, the public shouldn't have to go to court to make the courtroom stay open...Presumably the plaintiffs had known for months that they were planning to close this hearing. This is not the right way to do it." CNET News contacted the MPAA in advance and asked if the group would attempt to close the courtroom on Friday; the MPAA replied earlier this week it would not seek to do so.

CBS Interactive - News.com and ZDNet's parent - said it is considering legal options to re-open the courtroom. Good luck with that.