The United States Supreme Court, in a unanimous ruling, disagreed with two lower court rulings. Today’s opinion agrees with the MPAA and RIAA contention that P2P developers are responsible for the infringing activities of its users.
Apparently, the only reason Grokster and StreamCast lost is that they were distributing a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement.
The technology itself isn't a problem, but the supreme court ruled that the companies were fostering copyright infringement.
I think this is gonna open the door for companies to sue P2P companies all over the place even though, as one judge put it, a copy machine or vcr can be used illegally, but you wouldn't sue the manufacturer. I'm not advocating piracy, but the technology is a good one. I find myself watching weird little webisodes all over the place using P2P as their main distributor. I'm hoping this doesn't cripple progress.
Comments?
