New Supreme Court ruling could effect podcasting

• Launched on Tuesday, Apple's podcasting service is built into its online iTunes Music Store.
• The new service encourages iTunes users to subscribe to podcasts -- self-published radio programming -- for free, and allows them to publish their own.
• Like the iTMS, the podcast service features a list of the top 100 podcasts and highlights programs in different categories, such as public radio, morning shows and talk radio.
• Podcasters may not include unauthorized copyright material in their broadcasts, and Apple will reportedly monitor podcasts for infringing material, according to the Guardian.
• Apple also provides a complaint form on the iTMS to notify the company of any copyright violations.
• But with the unanimous Supreme Court decision in the MGM Studios v. Grokster case, companies can now be sued if they encourage users of their technology to infringe copyrights.
• Godwin said Apple would likely have a very strong case because selling authorized, legal content is the focus of its business model.
• But if a copyright holder were to bring a case against the company for an unauthorized podcast, Apple might have to litigate the case in order to win it.
• Michael Gartenberg, research director at Jupiter Research, doubted the Supreme Court decision would spell trouble for Apple.
• Gartenberg said it would probably be a greater risk for the podcaster than Apple.
• Jason Shultz, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation said it was more likely that copyright holders would use the notice-and-takedown provision in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
• "I don't think Apple's feature is going to be threatened under the Grokster decision unless there's overwhelming evidence that the majority of podcasts contain infringing material," he said.
• With the new podcast feature, Jupiter's Gartenberg said Apple has already taken the niche technology and made it mainstream.