SCOTUS on Filesharing
The big news in the music world today revolves around the most rocking of government branches, the Supreme Court, where the justices unanimously voted against Grokster and for the movies/music industry.
The argument presented by the movie/music industry made the case that Grokster was designed only for copyright violations and that the
parent company should therefore be help liable for people using the software in the way that it was intended.
The tech industry argued that this decision will slow down innovation since all future products will have to be weighed as to whether or not they could be used for potential copyright violations. They also argued that the software industry should be no more accountable for
the evils done using their tool than the gun industry should be for every time that someone gets shot in a burglary.
The SCOTUS ruled that the Grokster, besides the obvious use of making its owners money, really had no other purpose than copyright violation and is therefore liable for the criminal actions of its users. We guess it's like the gun industry could be sued if they created a pistol named the mug-o-matic.
That said, we really doubt this case will effect the p2p landscape very much. We expect that anyone willing to do so will be able to download as much content as he/she sees fit since there is a seemingly limitless number of sites and applications for this type of thing. We also expect the entertainment industry to file more lawsuits against p2p companies.
We officially regret that we did not attend law school, though we feel similar regret whenever we watch an episode of 'Matlock.' That could be just because we like blue suits.
