P2P Services in the Clear

I have not posted here in some time but the first thing i thought of when i read this earlier was Unite The Cows.

This is a great day for everyone who believes in file sharing.

Source: PC World

Grokster, Morpheus not liable for user's actions, appeals court says.

A U.S. federal appeals court ruled in favor of peer-to-peer software makers this week, stating that the companies behind the Grokster and Morpheus services are not liable for copyright infringement due to the actions of their users.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously backed a lower court ruling that Grokster, Streamcast Networks (maker of the Morpheus service), and Musiccity.com are not responsible for users who illegally copy or share content such as music and movies over their services.

"The peer-to-peer file-sharing technology at issue is not simply a tool engineered to get around" previous rulings against the Napster file-sharing service, wrote Judge Sidney R. Thomas in a ruling for the panel. "The technology has numerous other uses, significantly reducing the distribution costs of public domain and permissively shared art and speech, as well as reducing the centralized control of that distribution."


Latest Setback
The ruling is a further setback for the plaintiffs, including the Motion Picture Association of America, the National Music Publisher's Association of America, and the Recording Industry Association of America, which were appealing an April 2003 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Wilson.

The MPAA and RIAA both say in separate statements that they are reviewing the next legal steps to take, and they are widely expected to appeal the ruling to either the full 9th Circuit Court or to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Groups supporting the P-to-P networks, such as Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge, hailed the decision.

"This is a victory for innovators of all stripes," says EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney Fred von Lohmann in a statement from the group, which had argued on behalf of Streamcast. "The court's ruling makes it clear that innovators need not beg permission from record labels and Hollywood before they deploy exciting new technologies."

Just a pebble in the ocean, but at least it's a start in the right direction. Hopefully this will be the start of some more good news. Long live EFF, & P2P.

And a BIG

WELCOME BACK!

to my buddy maximus. Long time no see friend. We miss ya.