Judge: File-swapping tools are legal | CNET News.com: A federal judge in Los Angeles has handed a stunning court victory to file-swapping services Streamcast Networks and Grokster, dismissing much of the record industry and movie studios' lawsuit against the two companies. In an almost complete reversal of previous victories for the record labels and movie studios, federal court Judge Stephen Wilson ruled that Streamcast--parent of the Morpheus software--and Grokster were not liable for copyright infringements that took place using their software. The ruling does not directly affect Kazaa, software distributed by Sharman Networks, which has also been targeted by the entertainment industry. "Defendants distribute and support software, the users of which can and do choose to employ it for both lawful and unlawful ends," Wilson wrote in his opinion, released Friday. "Grokster and StreamCast are not significantly different from companies that sell home video recorders or copy machines, both of which can be and are used to infringe copyrights." The ruling is the second major setback to date to the entertainment industry's efforts to keep a tight rein on online file-swapping, following a similiar decision in the Netherlands last year that found that Kazaa was not liable for its users' copyright infringements. If upheld, the decision could lead artists, record labels and movie studios to cast new legal strategies that they have until now been reluctant to try, including bringing lawsuits against individuals who copy unauthorized works over Napster-like networks.
How ... interesting.
Technically, the legal precedents would support this decision. (Which hasn't stopped other courts from ruling otherwise, as noted in the article.) If the various appeals courts follow normal rules, then this decision will stand all the way up the line; upper courts will refuse even to hear the appeals.
What eventually happened with videotapes was that the television industry won from Congress the right to include a small increase in the prices that accounts for the amount lost to piracy. Unfortunately, this model isn't helpful for the recording industry now. After all, who do you charge? And for what? Charging for blank CDs doesn't get you anywhere; most people don't actually burn pirated songs to CD. Manufacturers of various MP3 players will resist strenuously having to pay any of their profits to the recording industry, on more or less the same grounds as the file sharing services won this round; the technology itself has nothing to do with the illegal use thereof.
One wonders what happens after all the lawsuits are done.
Posted by iain at April 28, 2003 10:56 AMComments
Extending the blank media levy to all forms of storage that are specifically sold to store audio is what the industry wants and is little by little getting. Canada was recently bludgeoned into such a tax on mp3 players, for example. Remember that only CDs that have had the tax paid can be used in standalone CD-Recorders, since only standalone devices are the ones that matter, and the computer industry can be neutered later.
Posted by Tom Jordaan at April 28, 2003 12:44 PM
