Judge: File-swapping tools are legal !!!!

CNET ^ | 4/25/2004 | John Borland

[ArcLight]

A federal judge in Los Angeles has handed a stunning court victory to file-swapping services Streamcast Networks and Grokster, dismissing much of the record industry and movie studios' lawsuit against the two companies. In an almost complete reversal of previous victories for the record labels and movie studios, federal court Judge Stephen Wilson ruled that Streamcast--parent of the Morpheus software--and Grokster were not liable for copyright infringements that took place using their software. The ruling does not directly affect Kazaa, software distributed by Sharman Networks, which has also been targeted by the entertainment industry.

"Defendants distribute and support software, the users of which can and do choose to employ it for both lawful and unlawful ends," Wilson wrote in his opinion, released Friday. "Grokster and Streamcast are not significantly different from companies that sell home video recorders or copy machines, both of which can be and are used to infringe copyrights."

[The Old Hoosier]

Perhaps the ruling, per se, is a good thing. But I'm almost all alone here arguing that the trend of "free music" is bad, so I feel like I should keep making the case.

[Mr. K]

you nailed it- I wish I could be that succinct

[The Old Hoosier]

It's not that simple. If you care about property rights, you should care about this issue.

[Timesink]

Ah dang.......the 9th circuit liberal bastards will rule against the software.

And like every other improper ruling the 9th makes, it will be overturned.

[coydog]

The music industry's handling of this issue is kind of like hos the Chinese govt. dealt with the SARs thing, ain't it? They didn't get on the problem with the approach that would have worked, now they have to deal with a pandemic. I don't feel sorry for either.

[Henrietta]

Totally. Which is why I don't consider it theft when I download a song using Gnutella. These leftists are so anti-property rights, unless their ox is being gored, they don't care.

Maybe if they'd let people pay to download one song, instead of forcing people to buy the whole album at $18, people would stop downloading stuff for free.

[prisoner6]

Well ever since mp3.com I've very rarely listend to let alone bought any of the "mainstream" music. Most if it STINKS. It's overproduced garbage and that's why the industry is in trouble.

My favorite music site at the moment is REALLY COOL! It's amatuers but a heckuva lot of fun! AND NO ONE CAN STOP US!

Check out...

www.darertosing.com

But beware anything by willbill aka...

prisoner6

[finnman69]

Time to go rip some MP3 cds.

[rwfromkansas]

Man Beethoven was an idiot then...:)

[smith288]

Then why do they keep popping up on TV complaining about Kaaza and grokster but not their own bosses raping them?

[Timesink]

Order granting defendants' motions for summary judgement (PDF, 1.4MB)

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Getting interesting!

OFFICIAL BUMP(TOPIC)LIST

[MattGarrett]

WHile that is true, it will serve to increase file swapping activity. IMHO

This will not directly affect users who actually download the files, or who offer copyrighted material to be uploaded.

[plain talk]

I know. I have them, e.g. Waves Plug-ins. They do wonders for automated PC mixing. I was speaking about tracking. It still requires lots of money to get really good preamps, compressors and limiters to record the tracks in the first place. Particularly good preamps and limiters for drums. I can't afford the good stuff. I use relatively inexpensive preamps on my Yamaha 01V digital mxer which work for home use and demos but I can hear the difference. But many of these kids probably can't tell the difference.

[rwfromkansas]

I have a huge collection of tv shows on my comp (since I don't get cable tv in my dorm room this year; they put in high speed internet to replace it and are in the bidding process to put it back in). I have looked online, but have not been able to buy these shows in video format. I don't consider this stealing to find a them on Kazaa or elsewhere and download them when the shows aren't even running on tv anymore in many cases.

I just wish I could find the Bob Newhart show online somewhere (the late 80's one). There is no company I find selling the shows and they are no longer aired in America anywhere. I remember that show from my young childhood, so that is more of a sentimental thing, but it was a very funny program.

As for my songs, I like being able to put together a collection of songs I like. The RIAA rips of artists in the end anyway, so I am not depriving them of much money by not buying one cd. I get tired of blowing 14 bucks on a CD that only has 1 song I want on it. And I often want the songs released to radio as singles, but I never can find these singles in the stores even when they are supposedly offered as ones. Often these mp3 copies have places where the copy messed up or something briefly, so they are not perfect and therefore, not a true copy of the original song. Because of this, I also do not consider it stealing. Especially since somebody else paid for it and voluntarily is letting me copy it (like I could copy a copy pages of a book they have or something).

[patriot_wes]

"Grokster and Streamcast are not significantly different from companies that sell home video recorders or copy machines, both of which can be and are used to infringe copyrights."

see this is the 80's logic I love...if everybody is doing it, then let's make it legal.

[rwfromkansas]

They are slaves; they can't get out.

The more courageous artists are speaking out against the industry pilfers.

[MattGarrett]

Especially when the studios and record companies could just adopt an HBO-style model.

Imagine ... would some people pay $12 a month for file sharing of music and movies? YOU BET.

So, rather than a potential revenue stream, the RIAA and MPAA are shooting themselves in the foot just to make a point.

Then Porn will adopt it, make millions, and then they'll do it anyway.

[The Red Zone]

I'm kind of dismayed that everyone is greeting this news by running around saying yay, let's share some more copyrighted songfiles. That's like saying yay, let's send out a bunch of photocopies of the latest Sports Illustrated because home copiers are OK.

[rwfromkansas]

You may be interested in this.