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Morpheus Wins!
Posted by Paul Szynol on Friday, April 25 @ 16:06:55 EDT File Sharing
Great news -- a CA District Court has wisely ruled that P2P networks are not guilty of contributory copyright infringement.

In the opinion, the Court recognized that

there are substantial noninfringing uses for Defendants' software - e.g., distributing movie trailers, free songs or other non-copyrighted works; using the software in countrries where it is legal; or sharing the works of Shakespeare.
The "critical question," the opinion further reasons, "is whether Grokster and StreamCast do anything, aside from distributing software, to actively facilitate -- or whether they could do anything to stop -- their users' infringing activity." The Court found that transfers occur "without any information being transmitted to or through any computers owned or controlled by Grokster", and that "transfer is initiated directly between . . . users." The opinion thus distinguishes Grokster/Streamcast from Napster, and concludes that the "evidence of contributory infringement cited by Plaintiffs with respect to these Defendants is not material."

EFF has the opinion here. News.com has coverage here.

 
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Re: Morpheus Wins! (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Sunday, April 27 @ 01:07:48 EDT
Well, blogs and tech/law news sites are having a field day over this. Why is no one taking specific notice that this is a district court decision? That is, a lower court decision. C'mon, we all know a decision at this level means almost nothing.

I'd like to rally behind the cause as much as anyone here, but we really, really shouldn't overreact over one small victory. It kinda smacks of desperation.

-- Rumr


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