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Library Groups Accept High Court’s Grokster DecisionThe U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled June 27 that distributors of peer-to-peer file-sharing networks can be held liable for copyright infringement if they actively encourage acts of infringement by users of their systems.In August 2004, a federal appeals court upheld the legality of file-sharing programs such as Grokster and Morpheus in a suit brought by MGM Studios and 27 other entertainment companies. The Supreme Court ruling sends MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. back to U.S. district court for a new trial. Library groups welcomed the decision because it reaffirmed the court’s 1984 ruling in Sony Corporation v. Universal Studios. The Sony decision held that technologies can’t be outlawed if they are capable of noninfringing uses. “By focusing on conduct that induces infringement, rather than on the distribution of technology, the decision ensures the continued availability of new and evolving digital technologies to libraries and their patrons,” wrote the Library Copyright Alliance—a coalition of five library associations that filed an amicus brief supporting the file-sharing companies—in a June 27 statement. In its opinion, the court acknowledged positive uses of P2P technology, noting that due to their “benefits in security, cost, and efficiency, peer-to-peer networks are employed to store and distribute electronic files by universities, government agencies, corporations, and libraries.” And in a concurring opinion, Justice Breyer—joined by Justices Stevens and O’Connor—suggested that there is a significant future market for noninfringing uses, including for research information, public-domain films, historical recordings and digital educational materials, shareware and freeware, news broadcasts, user-created audio and video files, and works collected by Creative Commons. Posted July 1, 2005. |
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