Grokster fights RIAA appeal

Peer-to-peer (P2P) company Grokster has responded to an attempt by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to overturn a court ruling in favour of file sharing software.

Grokster has filed an Appellee's Brief before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals urging that Judge Wilson's 25 April order be upheld.

Judge Wilson ruled that Grokster's software was not different to other recording devices such as video recorders.

This ruling was an unexpected blow in the RIAA's fight against file sharing over the internet because it said that the distribution of Grokster's file sharing product was legal.

"As Judge Wilson held, the distribution of software that has substantial non-infringing uses does not violate the Copyright Act," said Michael Page, Grokster's counsel.

Industry insiders believe that the ruling in Grokster's favour was one of the main catalysts that kick-started the RIAA's legal battles against individual P2P users.

"[They] seem to think that Judge Wilson's decision was a typo. They also seem to want to outlaw any legal technology that is content neutral," commented Wayne Rosso, president of Grokster.

"Instead of asking the court to deputise every technology vendor to enforce their copyrights for them, they should license the technology at a fair price.

"Five bucks a month from each of 60 million file sharers beats the hell out of filing a federal case to get $2,000 from a 12 year-old girl."

Meanwhile another software developer, 321 Studios, which is also under fire for allegedly promoting piracy, has launch a new DVD Piracy Prevention Programme.

321 Studios is fighting a bid by the Motion Picture Association of America in the UK High Court to ban the sale of its software in the UK.

The company claims that the programme seeks to prevent the illegal misuse of its DVD Copy Plus and DVD X Copy products.

Under the guidelines of the Piracy Prevention Programme, 321 Studios will offer a £10,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of any parties misusing its software to pirate movies.

Effective immediately, information regarding the illegal misuse of 321 Studios' technology can be sent to antipiracy@321studios.com.