Blog: Shawn Rogers

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The Supreme Court Rules on Peer to Peer file sharing

Earlier today the Supreme court handed down its ruling on Grokster v. M.G.M., which determined that file sharing networks and the makers of the software that enable them can be held financially liable for copyright infringement.

Braden Cox, Technology Counsel at the Competitive Enterprise Institute had the following to say “The Court faced a difficult decision with Grokster, both because intellectual property law has again had to confront the advent of a new technology and because a case like this challenges our society’s definition of ownership and fair use,” said Cox. “The net result in the short term will likely be a new round of lawsuits against existing file sharing firms, with song swappers moving quickly to non-U.S. peer-to-peer software. Unfortunately, the verdict will likely also have a chilling effect on innovation and may stifle the next generation of digital multimedia technology.”

If you are an active peer to peer participant you may want to start looking for an alternative. Get more on this story here.

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