Stop spacebar from scrolling page

I know that e.preventDefault(); is supposed to stop the spacebar from scrolling on the page, but it is not working on my function

$("html").live("keyup", function (e) {
    var code = (e.keyCode ? e.keyCode : e.which);
    if ((code == 32 || code == 13) && $("span").is(":focus")) {
        openDropdown();
        $(".dropdown a.PivotItem:first").focus();
        e.preventDefault();
    } else if ((code == 32 || code == 13) && $("a.PivotItem").is(":focus")) {
        closeDropdown();
        changeSelected($("*:focus"));
        e.preventDefault();
    } else if (code == 27 && ($("span").is(":focus") || $(".dropdown a.PivotItem").is(":focus"))) {
        closeDropdown();
        $("span").focus();
    } else {
        //do nothing
    }
});

Does it have something to do with the .live( handler I have included?