StreamCast re-enters the fray
p2p news / p2pnet: Morpheus owner StreamCast has taken a page out of Patti Santangelo’s book.
The New York mother of five has refused to give in to Big Four Organized Music ’settlement’ blackmail, instead choosing to take them on in an open court before a jury when she’ll be the first of the more than 18,000 record label victims to do so.
“At the Music 2.0 conference in LA two months ago, Michael Weiss, CEO of KazaaStreamCast [sic], said he was confident his company’s Morpheus peer-to-peer (P2P) service would be one of the few file-swapping services to go legit and survive,” observes MP3.com.
Weiss, of course, is the last person on earth to have anything to do with Kazaa. But MP3.com has the rest of it right, to wit, “The road to legitimacy got a bit more circuitous …..”
That’s because StreamCast efforts to work out a solution with the corporate music industry have collapsed.
Last Friday we had a note from StreamCast saying simply it had filed a response to Hollywood’s demand for a summary judgment by the music and movie industry cartels and, “I am really disappointed that we weren’t able to reach settlement terms with the plaintiffs,” the Associated Press has Weiss saying. “Now we want our day in court.”
The entertainment industry motion was filed under court seal and although requests for details about this and other matters are being turned away with No Comment, both sides were, “really quite close before that,” states AP.
It, “was something that turned what looked to be a full-on partnership into a one-sided, unworkable deal,” Weiss said. “What happened (is) this outside law firm that mucked this whole thing up … seeking revenge, retaliation and retribution.”
The decision, “marks a change of heart for the company, which previously said it planned to settle the case,” says Ars Technica, going on, “One aspect of the negotiations between Streamcast and the plaintiffs had revolved around legitimizing the P2P service, perhaps in a fashion similar to iMesh.”
AP also has Weiss criticizing one of the law firms involved in the case. It doesn’t name the company, but Shook, Hardy & Bacon recently moved on to pastures new, leaving RIAA business to Holme Roberts & Owen.
“If StreamCast does make it to court, its lawyers will have to contend with the Supreme Court’s expanded definition of copyright liability,” says the story, adding, “Weiss, however, dismissed the impact of the high court’s ruling. ‘We haven’t induced anybody to do anything since day one,’ he said Friday. ‘We’re not going to lose this’.”
StreamCast, “hopes to demonstrate in court that it neither promotes nor encourages infringement by its users,” says Ars Technica.
“If it manages to convince a jury of that, it could walk away from the lawsuit with its business model intact and the recording and movie industries on the hook for legal costs. On the other hand, if Streamcast fails, it may very well end up meeting the same fate as Grokster.”
StreamCast told p2pnet the company isn’t releasing an official statement for the moment, but a hearing is scheduled for May 15.
Also See:
’settlement’ blackmail – Patti Santangelo fund nears $11.5K, March 5, 2006
MP3.com – StreamCast to fight music biz, April 7, 2006
Associated Pres – StreamCast to seek trial in copyright case, April 7, 2006
Ars Technica – Streamcast to slug it out in court with RIAA, MPAA, April 9, 2006
Shook, Hardy & Bacon – RIAA’s new hatchet men, March 13, 2006
