Supreme Court deals blow to file-sharers
28 June 2005
The US Supreme Court has disappointed file-sharing sites and ruled that software companies can be held liable for copyright infringement if their technology is used by individuals to download songs and movies illegally.
Millions of people worldwide swap music and movie files over the internet via file-sharing networks and the unanimous Supreme Court ruling could see a raft of lawsuits launched against the creators of networks such as Grokster and Morpheus.
The case, brought by 28 movie and music makers, was expected to go in favour of the file-sharers because of legal precedents set by a previous case when VCRs first appeared. It is one of the most important copyright cases in recent years and is a key ruling from the nation's highest court in a long-standing battle against file-sharing.
Supreme Court Justice David Souter ruled: "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 liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties."
The music and film industry representatives claimed that rampant piracy was denting profits. Technology companies countered that holding them accountable for the illegal downloading of files would restrict their ability to develop new products.
The decision was one of two key internet-related cases that the Supreme Court handed down Monday. The justices also overturned a prior ruling that required cable operators to open up their high-speed internet lines to rivals.
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