Morpheus Grokster battle: II
p2pnet.net News:- The owners of the Morpheus and Grokster p2p applications are taking yet another stand in their David and Goliath battle against the multi-national entertainment industry.
Legal teams representing Morpheus owner StreamCast Networks and Grokster Ltd have filed a brief with the US Supreme Court against Hollywood’s petition for a writ of certiorari, described by StreamCast as, “a desperate effort”.
The Big Four music label cartel and the seven major movie studios were roundly defeated in the recent Grokster / Morpheus case when the Federal Court of Appeals unanimousy decided p2p networks aren’t liable for alleged copyright violations committed by their users.
After the decison, Circuit Judge Sidney Thomas wrote, “The introduction of new technology is always disruptive to old markets, and particularly to those copyright owners whose works are sold through well-established distribution mechanisms. Yet, history has shown that time and market forces often provide equilibrium in balancing interests, whether the new technology be a player piano, a copier, a tape recorder, a video recorder, a personal computer, a karaoke machine, or an MP3 player. Thus, it is prudent for courts to exercise caution before restructuring liability theories for the purpose of addressing specific market abuses, despite their apparent present magnitude.”
Now, entertainment industry enforcers the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) are staging a bitter, last-ditch effort to have the decision over-turned.
The cartel and studios, “are grasping for straws when they disingenuously assert that the Supreme Court should review the matter because they imagine a split in circuits based upon dicta in another case,” says Matthew A. Neco, StreamCast vp and general counsel.
The petition, “is nothing more than a request that the Supreme Court unnecessarily revisit the 1984 Betamax decision itself,” he says, going on:
“The law is clear and has already been decided. Morpheus is used for substantial non-infringing purposes, and, therefore, the Betamax standard applies, resulting in StreamCast not being secondarily liable for any direct infringing uses by users of Morpheus.”
Morpheus spokesman Brian O’Neal told p2pnet a decision is expected within four or five weeks.
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See:-
David and Goliath – Stomp file sharers: MPAA, RIAA, p2pnet, October 12, 2004
