Sorting the Uproar Over Downloads It seems like Hollywood won in the Grokster ruling, but the file-sharing universe will be largely unaffected, at least for a while. What the federal ruling against Grokster really means. By Jeff Howe from Wired magazine. Memo to technology companies: Shred your memos. That was one lesson from the US Supreme Court's 9-to-0 MGM v. Grokster decision issued in late June. Encouraging your customers to infringe copyright - in this case, by stealing music and movies using peer-to-peer software - makes you just as guilty as the copyright violators themselves, the justices said. The ruling was a boon for lawyers, who are now poised to scrutinize marketing plans, internal email, and advertising copy in the hunt for crime-inducing insinuations. What were some of the decision's other implications? Glad you asked. ...
Source: Wired News |