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Supreme Court Rules Against File Swapping update The Supreme Court handed movie studios and record labels a sweeping victory against file-swapping, ruling Monday that peer-to-peer companies such as Grokster could be held responsible for the copyright piracy on their networks. In a unanimous decision, the justices ruled companies that build businesses with the active intent of encouraging copyright infringement should be held liable for their customers' illegal actions. "We hold that one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, is...

Later this week the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to announce its decision on MGM vs. Grokster, a ruling that likely will reshape the way entertainment is distributed over the Internet, experts told UPI's The Web. "This is an incredibly difficult decision to predict," said David Davis, an intellectual-property attorney who represents entertainment-industry clients at Baker & McKenzie, a Chicago law firm. http://www.washingtontimes.com/upi/20050622-070606-4130r.htm

While thousands of people waited in line for the premiere of "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith," hundreds of others didn't wait in line at all. And they didn't have to pay. They downloaded pirated copies of the movie, burned them onto DVDs, and watched the last and latest of the Star Wars saga in their homes. Illegal? Yes. And also very, very easy. What is apparently a pre-release studio copy of "Revenge of the Sith" was uploaded onto the BitTorrent file-sharing network. First hundreds, then thousands of people downloaded it. And one of the features of...

See that silvery two-sided disc in the jewel case of Bruce Springsteen's new set? That's a DualDisc. One side CD, the other DVD, this hybrid could be the recording industry's best defense against music pirating and illegal downloading on peer-to-peer networks. "You can't manufacture a DualDisc at home. It just can't be done because ... there's all this content," says Thomas Hesse, president of global digital business for Sony BMG, which owns the Columbia label that released "Devils & Dust" exclusively on DualDisc. The only other high-profile artist to put out a DualDisc-only release was matchbox twenty frontman Rob Thomas,...

A new bill that would imprison pre-release file pirates for up to three years is just a few procedural steps away from becoming law. The bill, known as the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005, which includes the Artists' Rights and Theft Prevention Act of 2005 or the ART Act, was crafted to sentence distributors of prerelease copies of films, songs or other works for up to three years. The bill also would permit companies like ClearPlay to edit films for language and content. The bill, which is awaiting signature from President Bush, would assign the same penalties to...

Dear Sirs, I would appreciate if you can view on revolutionary anti-piracy technology. Please feel free to ask more information. The end of illegal peer to peer file sharing Viralg Oy, is a privately held Finnish company behind new breakthrough technology giving superior protection for those fighting against peer to peer pirates. On the market where our competitors can only offer a mediocre service for blocking illegal file swapping our solution means totally new level of revenue protection. By utilizing Viralg´s technology we can guarantee 99% protection for intellectual property like music, movie and game content in all the main...

DURHAM, N.H. -- Another round of lawsuits against college students accused of illegally sharing music and movie files has drawn attention to a new high-speed network used at colleges across the country. The University of New Hampshire is one of hundreds of colleges and organizations using Internet2, which boasts speeds hundreds of times faster than the Internet. UNH researchers use the network to share large files that would take minutes or hours to send over the standard Internet. According to UNH network manager Doug Green, with Internet2, those big files can be sent in seconds. "The Internet2 is a high-speed...

Maybe people would pay for music if they could profit from their honesty. That's the concept behind Peer Impact, a new Internet music-selling service that's done deals with the world's four biggest recording companies. Peer Impact is up and running as a closed beta test, with 2,500 users paying 99 cents per downloaded tune, and making some of the money back by trading their files.

The Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday from representatives of major film studios and the recording industry who are seeking to shut down peer-to-peer services they say are costing them billions of dollars. One of the questions the court kept coming back to was this: What's more important — preventing potential copyright violations or allowing the market to come up with innovative new products? The case began when MGM and several record labels filed suit against StreamCast Networks and file-sharing network Grokster, arguing that they were intentionally created to allow people to illegally trade copyrighted material. That case was thrown out...

WASHINGTON, March 29 - The much-heralded Supreme Court showdown in the Grokster case between old-fashioned entertainment and newfangled technology found the justices surprisingly responsive on Tuesday to warnings from Grokster, the software maker that allows Internet users to share computer files on peer-to-peer networks, that a broad definition of copyright infringement could curtail innovation. Justice David H. Souter asked Donald B. Verrilli Jr., the lawyer arguing for the Hollywood studios and the recording industry, to envision "a guy sitting in his garage inventing the iPod." "I know perfectly well that I can buy a CD and put it on my...

Supreme Court justices questioned Tuesday whether the recording industry's attempts to shut down online file-sharing networks would deter inventors from developing new products like Apple's iPod music player.But the justices also suggested that peer-to-peer networks could be held accountable for copyright infringement because they attracted users by telling them that they could copy music and movies for free. Record labels and movie studios have sued to shut down peer-to-peer software makers like Grokster and Morpheus, arguing that the millions of songs and movies copied each day over these networks have cut into sales. Lower courts have ruled that Grokster and...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court expressed concerns Tuesday over allowing entertainment companies to sue makers of software that allows Internet users to illegally download music and movies, questioning whether the threat of such legal action might stifle Web innovation. During a lively argument, justices wondered aloud whether such lawsuits might have discouraged past inventions like copy machines, videocassette recorders and iPod portable music players - all of which can be used to make illegal duplications of copyrighted documents, movies and songs.Justice Stephen G. Breyer said the same software that can be used to steal copyrighted materials offered at least...

WASHINGTON - When the Supreme Court justices were growing up, swapping music meant exchanging vinyl records. And sharing a movie involved walking someone to the cinema. Today many of the latest hit songs and movies are a few mouse clicks away on the Internet, and those same justices are being asked to settle a multibillion-dollar dispute about how such items are shared. Entertainment companies want the court to let them sue the manufacturers of file-sharing software that allows computer users to download music and movies from each other's computers. The companies say such downloads violate copyright protections and amount to...

<p>For someone whose business is under attack in the United States Supreme Court, Mark Gorton was remarkably serene last week, sprawled on a couch in his Manhattan office. Mr. Gorton's company, the Lime Group, publishes LimeWire, one of the most popular software programs used to trade music, video and other files over the Internet.</p>

2 MSU students sued by RIAA Association files more lawsuits for illegal file sharing By MARGARET HARDING The State News Two MSU students are among the more than 700 illegal file sharers sued last month by the Recording Industry Association of America, or RIAA. MSU has yet to receive a subpoena, which forces university officials to turn over the names of the students who were logged onto the network using a computer Internet address suspected of illegally file sharing, said David Gift, vice provost for Libraries, Computing and Technology. This will be the third round of file sharing lawsuits filed...

Penalties of Stealing vs. Infringing Cease and Desist letters for people using BitTorrent to download TV shows are becoming more frequent (example). So I decided to read up on the United States Code cited in these letters. Just out of interest, I also decided to read up on what the penalties for real, physical theft are. The conclusion is that under our current laws, copying files over the Internet would seem to be more onerous than actual, physical stealing. Disclaimer I Am Not A Lawyer. I will quote the appropriate sections of the Code in detail below, and you can...

Evelyn won't return my phone calls. So that means she's ignoring me. Or she wants to talk to me, but can't, because the Recording Industry Association of America won't let her. In December, Evelyn found out she had been targeted by the RIAA in its ever increasing crusade against children, mothers and senior citizens who don't uncheck the "share" option in their peer-to-peer downloading software. The Daily Texan office received Evelyn's call on the last press day before winter break. She had received a notice from Time Warner stating that they were subpoenaed into releasing her personal information in a...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court is faced with the challenge of threading a very thorny needle now that the initial round of briefs in what has become known as the Grokster case has been submitted. At issue is a U.S. 9th Circuit Court decision that failed to halt the distribution of peer-to-peer file-sharing programs that, according to some estimates, have been used to circulate millions of copies of pirated movies, songs and computer software. The Supreme Court is being asked to decide whether the companies that develop or provide peer-to-peer file-sharing programs should be held responsible...

Jan. 19, 2005 Justice Dept. gains first P2P piracy convictions By Brooks BoliekWASHINGTON -- The Justice Department on Tuesday notched its first-ever convictions for copyright piracy perpetrated on P2P networks as two suspects nabbed by the G-men in the department's "Operation Digital Gridlock" pleaded guilty to felony intellectual property crimes. William Trowbridge, 50, of Johnson City, N.Y., and Michael Chicoine, 47, of San Antonio each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit felony criminal copyright infringement before Judge Paul Friedman in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The men made available millions of dollars worth...

A popular peer-to-peer file-sharing website has closed down amid mounting efforts by the movie industry to crack down on online piracy. The Suprnova website was one of the most popular places for people swapping and sharing links to illegal copies of films on the BitTorrent network.