Technology industries concerned at P2P ruling
June 28, 2005
Technology industry experts are concerned about the implications of a ruling by the US Supreme Court that file-sharing networks, such as Grokster, can be held responsible if the main purpose of their software is to allow customers to swap songs and movies illegally.
The case, against Streamcast Networks which makes the software behind Grokster and Morpheus, is seen as a test of copyright law in the digital age. It was filed by 28 media companies in 2001, alleging that Streamcast was benefiting from piracy on the file-sharing networks. The case was defeated in several lower courts, but has now been upheld by the Supreme Court because of evidence that file-sharing sites were seeking “to cause and profit from” copyright infringement.
The court also said a technology company could not be sued if it merely learns its customers are using its products for illegal purposes. According to critics, this leaves an area of uncertainty, where courts will have to decide what constitutes encouraging copyright infringement.
Members of the motion picture and music industry welcomed the ruling, but technology industry experts are concerned that it could make the legality of new products and services uncertain, as it does not provide the clear enough guidelines for legitimate innovators and manufacturers to avoid lawsuits related to copyright infringement.
Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Association, said
“With this ruling the Supreme Court has handed a powerful new tool to litigious content creators to stop innovation.”
However, experts have said that the ruling will not stop file-swapping.