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Court to Hear Landmark P2P Case

Posted by simoniker on from the peer-versus-peer dept.

CrystalFalcon writes "Wired News reports that a federal appeals court is poised to hear arguments in a landmark case involving Grokster and Morpheus that could decide the future of peer-to-peer services, and may affect whether technology companies can be held liable for their customers' behavior." The appeal against last April's Grokster/Morpheus court win will take a while to shake out, though: "At Tuesday's hearing, each side will have 30 minutes to present its arguments and answer questions from the three judges. The judges will likely take several months to issue an opinion on the matter."

3 of 285 comments (clear)

  1. I don't understand by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How can providers be at fault? One can use any communications medium for piracy: The mail system, telephone companies, FTP, the web, carrier pidgeon - the list is virtually endless. Is the postal system at fault for transporting CDs with pirated software?

  2. Winning the war but losing the battle by erick99 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The RIAA and other like-minded bodies need to find a way to get their message out (music is not free) without alienating their customers.

    Technology stays a step ahead of the music industries ability to track down people who are downloading and/or distributing copyrighted content throughout the Internet. So, either find a way to communicate, more effectively, that people who make music have to get paid, or, price the products so that it is just not worth it to download what is quite often not-so-great recordings. Have there been experiments to see if you can sell enough CD's at, say, $10 instead of $18 to make up for the price drop?

    Happy Trails,

    Erick

    --
    http://www.busyweather.com/
  3. Setting a judicial precedent... by Black+Parrot · · Score: 5, Insightful
    • Used phone to plan crime --> phone companies and phone makers held responsible.
    • Threatened bank w/ note about fake bomb --> makers of pencil, paper, and luggage held responsible.
    • Used car in getaway --> automaker, oil company held responsible.
    • Used gun in shootout w/ police --> gun and ammo maker held responsible. [not far from there now]
    Of course, if those businesses were "criminal", then the businesses that sell them tools and supplies are also criminal. [apply recursively]

    --
    Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade