True, but this judge (Albright) in the Western District of Texas is setting himself up to be the next patent assertion entity (aka patent troll) forum of choice. Nearly 20% of patent cases last year were filed in his district. And due to the way patent cases are assigned in the W.D. Tex. he's the only judge who will hear them. He's set plaintiff-friendly local rules just like the E.D. Texas and even went on a tour to convince patent attorneys to file suit there.

Last I checked, there was a circuit split here. The Federal Circuit has ruled that there has to be an underlying copyright violation under Chamberlain v. Skylink. The Ninth Circuit (where the Washington case falls) has held that circumventing technological measures themselves are a violation of the DMCA even without underlying copyright infringement under MDY v. Blizzard. So at least in the Ninth Circuit, circumvention itself is a violation.