While Hollywood rejoices over the legal victory against the Grokster file sharing service, handed down by the US Supreme Court, you'd better properly read the ruling (download a PDF here) before you draw any conclusions.

The judges don't say peer-to-peer or file sharing in general is illegal – just that file sharing that is aimed at violating copyrights is. Grokster too strongly marketed itself as a service that lets users download movies and music. It doesn’t surprise me at all that the company is getting burnt for that.

The ruling doesn't reverse the Sony Betamax case (that allows disrupting technology that potentially violates copyrights as long as its sole use isn't to make illegal copies). Nor does it say that file sharing by itself is illegal.

It's up to the lower courts now to decide Grokster's fate. But the next peer to peer file sharing application will just contain a disclaimer warning users that they shouldn't violate copyrights and that might just solve the whole thin. Hollywood put back that champagne for now.

Has lady justice lost her balance?
Photo credit: Ken Duncan

Tags: p2p; piraterie

29 Jun 2005