Doctor Dre

Peer-to-peer file-sharing services Morpheus and Grokster are legal, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.

The decision is a blow for record labels and movie studios which sued the peer-to-peer operators claiming that the services should be held liable for the copyright infringement of their users.

The Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America have long argued that rampant trading of copyright songs and movies on these file-swapping networks has crippled their businesses.

The decision upholds an April 2003 U.S. District Court decision that these services should not be held liable for the illegal behavior of their users. The studios and labels appealed the decision and the appeals court heard oral arguments on the case in February.

The district court correctly applied the law, wrote Judge Sidney Thomas, a member of the three-judge panel for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

"History has shown that time and market forces often provide equilibrium in balancing interests, whether the new technology be a player piano, a copier, a tape recorder, a video recorder, a personal computer, a karaoke machine, or an MP3 player," Thomas wrote. "Thus, it is prudent for courts to exercise caution before restructuring liability theories for the purpose of addressing specific market abuses, despite their apparent present magnitude."

Michael Weiss, CEO of StreamCast Networks, operator of Morpheus, said in a statement, "Not only is today's ruling a victory for Morpheus, a hard-fought one at that, but this is a victory for our fellow P2P developers, a victory for American innovation and, perhaps more importantly, history will prove this to be a bigger win for the entertainment industry. Hopefully they will now embrace new technologies, like Morpheus, to seek new opportunities for artists and creators in the digital domain rather then spend their time and money trying to stifle progress."

"This is a major victory -- a victory that goes far beyond peer-to-peer and is relevant to technology innovators of all kinds," said lawyer Fred von Lohmann, who argued the case for Grokster and StreamCast before the court. "The reason we took this case is to make it clear that people who develop new technologies should not have to face endless expensive litigation from Hollywood even where those technologies may disrupt existing business models."

Mitch Bainwol, CEO of the RIAA, said the trade group will continue to pursue legislative and legal actions to address illegal activities facilitated by Grokster and other P2P services.

"This decision does nothing to absolve these businesses from their responsibility as corporate citizens to address the rampant illegal use of their networks," Bainwol said in a statement. The issue is "whether or not digital music will be enjoyed in a fashion that supports the creative process or one that robs it of its future. That's the online future of music."

In the decision, the judge also cautioned against copyright owners' request to re-examine current copyright law, "expanding exponentially the reach of the doctrines of contributory and vicarious copyright infringement."

"Not only would such a renovation conflict with binding precedent, it would be unwise," Thomas wrote. "Doubtless, taking that step would satisfy the Copyright Owners' immediate economic aims. However, it would also alter general copyright law in profound ways with unknown ultimate consequences outside the present context."

The judge also wrote that in the 1984 Sony Betamax case -- a landmark decision that ruled devices like the VCR are legal -- the Supreme Court "spoke quite clearly about the role of Congress in applying copyright to new technologies."

Von Lohmann said that the entertainment companies will likely turn to Congress for help.

"It's far from over. I'm sure the plaintiff will seriously consider appealing and I'm sure they will run to Sen. (Orrin) Hatch and encourage him to step in as well," von Lohmann said.

Hatch (R-Utah), along with Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), introduced the Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act (SB2560) in June. The bill would hold technology companies liable for any product that might "induce" or encourage people to steal copyright materials. The Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony on the bill last month.

http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,64640,00.html

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Doctor Dre

Guess nobody cares

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DarkJedi

yeah

crockett

na, I'm just glad the record companies lost.. they are nothing but freaking crybabies.. They have been over charging for CD and tapes for years and years.

The internet could have made them billions if they would have used it correctly instead of trying to fight it. The world was at their finger tips and they failed to realize it and still to this day, they can't comprehend the power and sales volume they could have on the net..

Fucking morons in suits

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Doctor Dre

The record compagnies are actually the ones loosing ... the artists make more then ever with the shows, cell phones, clothe compagny and all that other bullshit

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Dagwolf

Now if we could just get P2P file-sharing without adware...

well, there's kazaalite, but I don't fully trust it.

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Sleep well, and dream of large women.

Enema

http://www.shareaza.com/

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exposed

*clap*

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"I felt victimized by the Ian Eisenbergs of the world" - Mary Burger

astnfan

Well we all like the fact that we can download MP3s for free, but it can also hurt us as well.

Something like this could possibly lead more and more sites to DRM thier content.

TheWildcard

I still use kazaa lite for music.

www.packetnews.com for movies

Manowar

Morpheus is so 2000

bluff

That was a few days back

Babagirls

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majortom

I p2p with winmx...no add/spy/malware.


It's perfect.

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Divers Do It Deeper !!!

FlyingIguana

they should be held liable for what users do on their service. its like having a house and allowing a pimp to use it for his whores.

they know illigal activity is going on right under their nose.

Doctor Dre

This program is ownage for torrent files

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stocktrader23

p2pservices.com is for sale. See sig.

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stocktrader23

With your thinking companies that make VCR's, tape recorders, cd burners, dvd burners, and a whole slew of other products should be held liable for what the end user does with their merchandise.

It's really very simple, you can't hold someone liable because they use a product that can also be used for legal activity to do something illegal.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee

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Hands Free Adult - Join Once, Earn For Life

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CyberBachelor

I have heard that they are bad about corrupt files...

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crockett

well that's what I'm talking about.. it's their own fault they are losing money. They could have set up their own P2P networks to allow users to share approved music for a reasonable monthly fee.. This would have also saved them a shit load of money when testing new artists.. as they would have a instant market place to do song tests, instead of spending 10s of thousands producing videos and albums.

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FlyingIguana

p2p is completely different than a vcr. a vcr doesn't provide you with a list of illegal movies to tape. you tape things for personal use so you can watch them later.

p2p services gives people a list of illegal software and aids in breaking the law. i can't believe the judges didn't see that.

apples and oranges

stocktrader23

Fine we'll go that route. The cable company gives me a nice big list of movies to pirate.

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"I try to make a habit of bouncing my eyes up to the face of a beautiful woman, and often repeat “not mine” in my head or even verbally. She’s not mine. God has her set aside. She’s not mine. She’s His little girl, and she needs me to fight for her by keeping my eyes where they should be."

FlyingIguana

you have to be kidding me?

don't argue just for the sake of arguing

Project-Shadow

What he was saying was that with VCR, you could record and sell/trade movies just like via P2P. Whether you pirate them from cable or from terrestrial TV makes no difference. This could be compared to the record companies trying to ban marker pens.

FlyingIguana

its not the same thing because its the person doing the selling/trading. p2p services give pirates a central spot to perform illegal acts. its more like if you let people meet in your backyard to trade movies.