Grokster ruling and US schools
p2pnet.net News:- Some US college officials don’t think the Supreme Court Grokster v MGM decision will have much impact either on colleges’ policies regarding music and movie downloading, or on whether they decide to sign deals with “legal” downloading services, says the Chronicle of Higher Education.
“But other officials say the court’s ruling could lead to an increase in such deals, through which colleges hope to lure students away from illegal file sharing,” it states.
The unimaginably rich entertainment and software industry cartels claim they’re being devastated by people who use p2p networks to upload, download and share files online.
Two previous courts had ruled the owners of p2p applications weren’t responsible for what users did with the software. But the industries kept the pressure up and succeeded in having the decision overturned.
“We hold that one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by the clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties,” wrote Justice David H. Souter.
But it’s not over yet. The case returns to the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which had already ruled in favour of Grokster and StreamCast Networks, the owners of Grokster and Morpheus p2p programs.
Meanwhile, “The court’s decision was a disappointment to scholars and technology developers who had tried to persuade the justices that a decision in favor of the entertainment industry could stifle technological innovation and prevent scholars from legally trading data, video, music, and literature using peer-to-peer networks,” says the Chronicle, continuing:.
“As for students, many are expected to continue swapping songs and movies online – and to go on violating copyright – even if subsequent court rulings force the file-sharing companies to shut down. Students may be able to continue using existing versions of file-sharing software even if the companies have to close their doors. The software lets users search other users’ computers for sought-after works.”
But owners of the likes of Napster II, which the Big Music cartel originally shoe-horned into colleges and universities, turning them into marketing outlets and using school staff as sales people, will be delighted.
“Sheldon E. Steinbach, vice president and general counsel at the American Council on Education, said the decision would encourage colleges to sign contracts with online services,” says the story.
He also predicts colleges will step up efforts to, “educate students about the liability they face when downloading copyrighted music and movies”.
Also mentioned is Penn State University, the first major US teaching institution to become an active participant in the music industry’s campus marketing, sales and PR scheme.
“It reaffirms that we went down the right path,” Penn spokesman William M. Mahon III says of the “policy of paying for Napster’s services.
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See:-
Chronicle of Higher Education – Colleges Split Over Effects of Court Ruling on File Sharing, July 8 issue, 2005
overturned – Supreme court rules for MGM, p2pnet, June 27, 2005
David H. Souter – The Lost Liberty Hotel, p2pnet, June 30, 2005
active participant – University p2p ‘report’, p2pnet, August 25, 2004
