[dvd-discuss] A victory for the file sharing movement

["Glendon M. Gross" <gross(at)xinetd.ath.cx>]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-042503fileshare_lat,1,737002.story?coll=la%2Dhome%2Dheadlines

Here is an excerpt:

> 
>            
>           3:35 PM PDT, April 25, 2003 
> 
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> 
>           UPDATE
>           Recording Firms Lose File-Sharing Case
>             The ruling is a blow to record
>           companies and movie studios who
>           seek to stem the illegal copying
>           and distribution of their
>           copyright works through file
>           sharing.
> 
>           By Jon Healey, Times Staff Writer
> 
>           The entertainment
>           industry suffered a
>           major setback today in
>           its fight against
>           online piracy when a
>           federal judge ruled
>           that two of the most
>           popular sources of
>           free music and movies
>           on the Internet do not
>           violate copyright law.
> 
>           In a 34-page decision
>           that stunned the
>           record labels and
>           Hollywood studios,
>           U.S. District Judge
>           Stephen V. Wilson in
>           Los Angeles held that
>           the Morpheus and
>           Grokster file-sharing
>           networks are legal
>           even though most of
>           their users are
>           illegally copying the
>           labels' and studios'
>           works. Unlike the
>           now-defunct Napster
>           service, Wilson ruled,
>           Morpheus and Grokster
>           aren't liable for what
>           their users do because
>           the networks don't
>           monitor or control
>           them.
> 
>           Executives at the Motion Picture
>           Assn. of America and the
>           Recording Industry Assn. of
>           America said the ruling was
>           legally incorrect and they would
>           appeal.
> 
>           "It is not sharing, it's
>           stealing," said Jack Valenti,
>           chief executive of the MPAA.
>           "And I don't believe any court,
>           in the final end, is going to
>           condone that. Therefore I feel
>           quite confident in the end we
>           will prevail because we are
>           right."
> 
>           Still, the ruling leaves the
>           record labels with a clear, if
>           uncomfortable, option for
>           attacking file-sharing, which
>           they blame for decimating CD
>           sales: suing individual users,
>           who just happen to be their
>           customers. It also presses the
>           labels and studios to increase
>           their support for online
>           services that charge for music
>           and movies they distribute, many
>           of which complain about the
>           companies' reluctance to embrace
>           ground-breaking business models.
> 
>           In the meantime, the ruling
>           could invite more entrepreneurs
>           to launch and promote
>           file-sharing services, which
>           have largely operated in the
>           Internet underground.
> 
>           Wilson agreed with previous
>           rulings that consumers don't
>           have the right to copy songs and
>           movies from each others'
>           computers without the copyright
>           owners' permission. He also
>           acknowledged that Morpheus and
>           Grokster may have designed their
>           systems to avoid liability while
>           deliberately profiting from
>           their users' piracy.
> 
>           But both networks enable
>           legitimate copying as well as
>           infringements, which entitles
>           them to a degree of legal
>           protection, Wilson said. And
>           because the networks would keep
>           operating even if the companies
>           stopped supporting them, the law
>           against indirect infringement
>           doesn't apply, he said.
> 
>