Judge Rules Offering != Distributing

starrsoft writes "From the EFF's website: 'Judge Marilyn Patel issued a ruling (PDF) Wednesday that settles an important question in the ongoing Napster case -- whether under the law, simply offering copyrighted material to others means you're distributing it. Copyright holders have to prove that someone actually downloaded the file from you before you can be found liable for distributing. The simple act of offering isn't enough. It clarifies the law, providing a safeguard against the over-reach that the ART Act threatened.' Ernie Miller and Techdirt have more on this decision."

Comments

Ruling is Important

[starrsoft]

I think this is a very important development for P2P file sharing. It will make the threshhold of proof much higher for sharers to be sued. The one thing that it won't help is the MPAA & individual studios sending an infringement notice letter to the sharer's ISP and spineless ISPs suspending people's accounts.

Re:Ruling is Important

[Anonymous Coward]

The largest impact isn't on the sharers, but it's on the bittorrent tracker sites. The threshold of proof is raised not only for those offering files, such as in Kazaa, but most importantly, it's raised for sites that index torrents as well - at least that's how I read it.

Imagine how bittorrent is affected

[Free_Trial_Thinking]

So participating in a bittorrent may not be proof of wrong doing anymore. Would Fox now have to prove that someone actually came away from the swarm with a full Simpsons episode and that all of the bits came from me?

Discuss, discuss

Re:They can download it themselves

[AKAImBatman]

I know this word is used way too loosely by people trying to make points about the law but aren't you forcing someone to break the law in order to sue them?

1. Entrapment only applies to law enforcement.
2. "when a person is predisposed to commit a crime, offering opportunities to commit the crime is not entrapment"
3. I'm thinking that someone who has permission to download files is not causing anyone to break the law by downloading from a site that is offering said files.

Re:humm.

[ScrewMaster]

Well, Napster got nailed not on direct infringement (because Napster wasn't directly transferring materials) but on "facilitation", instead. Presumably that attack would still work just as well on a tracker site.