Originally published July 15 2005
Supreme Court rules against file-sharing networks
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Networks like Grokster and StreamCast can now be held liable for copyright infringement by users of their peer-to-peer file-sharing software. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled at the end of June in favor of the recording industry, in a half-decade long battle to stop music and movie piracy.
Grokster and StreamCast Networks can be held liable for copyright infringements committed by users of their peer-to-peer file-sharing software, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs--Motion Picture Association of America, the National Music Publisher's Association of America, and the Recording Industry Association of America--asked the court to recognize that the Grokster and StreamCast's Morpheus P-to-P (peer-to-peer) software packages were created primarily to encourage users to illegally trade copyright songs and movies.
The issue before the Supreme Court in the case focused on a relatively narrow question: whether movie and music companies should be able to sue the P-to-P distributors for the copyright violations of their users.
Those who supported Grokster argued the case has broader implications, saying if copyright owners are able to sue inventors of new technologies for the sins of their users, few technology companies would be safe.
The case centers around the Supreme Court's 1984 Sony Betamax ruling, in which judges rejected claims of a movie studio brought against Sony, maker of the Betamax VCR.
In its unanimous decision, the Supreme Court on Monday left the landmark Sony decision untouched, but found that Grokster and StreamCast are at fault for promoting copyright infringement among users of their products.
Grokster and StreamCast are both aware that users employ their software primarily to download copyright files and that when they began distributing their software both companies actively encouraged their users to use their products to download copyright works, the judges noted.
"Sony's rule limits imputing culpable intent as a matter of law from the characteristics or uses of a distributed product.
In a separate press conference, Grokster backers warned that the decision will have a chilling effect on technology innovation and criticized the court for being unclear on what constitutes inducement of copyright violations.
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