![]() Napster, having lost its similar lawsuit about its enabling of users' copyright infringement, filed a brief in support of the entertainment companies. Ĭomputer and Internet technology companies such as Intel, and trade associations including firms such as Yahoo! and Microsoft, filed amicus curiae briefs in support of the file sharing companies, while the RIAA and MPAA both sided with MGM and the other entertainment companies. STREAMCAST DEVICE SOFTWAREOn appeal, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the district court's decision after acknowledging that peer-to-peer ("P2P") software has legitimate and legal uses. The United States District Court for the Central District of California originally dismissed the case in 2003, citing the Sony precedent. The entertainment companies appealed to the Supreme Court after losing at two lower courts. MGM and the other plaintiffs argued that makers of file sharing technology should held liable for their users' copyright infringement, via the contributory and vicarious infringement doctrines. Grokster case is frequently characterized as a re-examination of the issues in Sony precedent, in light of rapidly progressing technologies and consumer behaviors. ![]() Just a few years later, Internet technology had progressed to the point that trading large video files, including those for entire movies, had become viable via popular services including Grokster. ![]() Napster (2001), which addressed the ease of sharing music files online, and how the designers of the technology could be held liable for contributory copyright infringement and vicarious copyright infringement if such behavior was the primary use of the technology and the company benefited from it. The Sony precedent was partially modified in A&M Records v. The advent of file sharing via the Internet in the late 1990s, and its enabling of easy and more widespread copying of copyrighted materials, inspired new arguments from the entertainment industry, because copying technology had progressed since the 1980s. Supreme Court ruled that a technology manufacturer cannot be held liable for its users' copyright infringement if widespread unauthorized copying is unlikely, and if the technology enables significant non-infringing uses as well. STREAMCAST DEVICE MOVIEThe plaintiffs were a consortium of 28 entertainment companies, led by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios.Įntertainment industry lawsuits against new technologies that enable the copying of copyrighted content date back to the 1980s, when the movie industry sought court injunctions against the sale and use of VCRs. 913 (2005), is a United States Supreme Court decision in which the Court ruled unanimously that the defendants, peer-to-peer file sharing companies Grokster and Streamcast (maker of Morpheus), could be held liable for inducing copyright infringement by users of their file sharing software. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated and remanded.Ĭhief Justice William Rehnquist Associate Justices John P. Producers of technology who promote the ease of infringing on copyrights can be sued for inducing copyright infringement committed by their users. ![]() 2005) summary judgment opinion on remand, 454 F. 2003) plaintiffs' motion to dismiss counterclaims granted in part, 269 F. 2003) summary judgment granted in part to defendants, 259 F. ![]()
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