Judge rules file-swapping tools are legal (repost potential high)

[MercenaryForHire]

Repostx0r?

In an almost complete reversal of previous victories for the record labels and movie studios, federal court Judge Stephen Wilson ruled that Streamcast ? parent of the Morpheus software ? and Grokster were not liable for copyright infringements that took place using their software. The ruling does not directly affect Kazaa, software distributed by Sharman Networks that has also been targeted by the entertainment industry.

"Defendants distribute and support software, the users of which can and do choose to employ it for both lawful and unlawful ends," Wilson wrote in his opinion, released Friday. "Grokster and Streamcast are not significantly different from companies that sell home video recorders or copy machines, both of which can be and are used to infringe copyrights."

The court?s ruling applies only to existing versions of the Morpheus and Grokster software. Earlier versions of the software, which functioned slightly differently, could potentially leave the companies open to liability.

However, the ruling appeared to state clearly that decentralized peer-to-peer software such as Gnutella is legal, in much the same way that the Sony VCR is protected by law.

Representatives of the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America could not immediately be reached for comment. They are expected to appeal immediately, however.

"This is far from over," said Fred von Lohmann, an Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney who has represented Streamcast in the case. "This is not the end, but it sends a very strong message to the technology community that the court understands the risk to innovation."

- M4H

 

[NuclearFusi0n]

yes

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: NuclearFusi0n
yes

Argh. I call shenanigns unless I see a link.

(p2p, judge, ruling, kazaa, morpheus, swapping, filesharing didn't seem to pull it up)

- M4H

 

[halik]

WOOOO in your face RIAA.
Theyre gonna have to do it the hard way now, suing milions of kazaa/morpheus users

 

[rockyct]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire

Originally posted by: NuclearFusi0n
yes

Argh. I call shenanigns unless I see a link.

(p2p, judge, ruling, kazaa, morpheus, swapping, filesharing didn't seem to pull it up)

- M4H

You didn't check the politics forum: http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=52&threadid=1034311

 

[HappyPuppy]

Originally posted by: halik
WOOOO in your face RIAA.
Theyre gonna have to do it the hard way now, suing milions of kazaa/morpheus users

Why does this make me ?