gerloff
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Dienstag, 28.Juni 2005
So the Grokster case is decided: The US Supreme Court says that companies that make filesharing software and run a filesharing network are to be held responsible for copyright infringements by their users. This is a fundamental change in direction from the famous Betamax case, where the same court ruled that VCR makers were not responsible for what buyers did with the machines.
As usual, my favourite German blog netzpolitik.org provides a summary and links. A somewhat inconclusive overview can be found at the ever less impressive wired.com. Better tech information is usually provided by The Register. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has not only a comment on the decision, but also a MGM v. Grokster case page. Tons of links everywhere, of course.
By extension, this might impact pretty much any manufacturing activity in the US. The court said that Grokster was responsible for its user's copyright infringements because its software was geared mainly towards making such things possible. Justice David Souter wrote: "We hold that one who distributes 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, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties."
This argumentative pattern does not only hold interesting implications for, say, firearms makers. It also subjects people and companies developing tools for sharing knowledge to a complicated test of intentions. In short, this is a resounding victory for the big film and music companies. However, the verdict is unlikely to stop filesharing as such, but it definitely will give innovators a huge headache. Big media has the economy suffering to hang on to their outdated business models.
