Napster and Sony
Columbia law professor Jane Ginsburg, believes that the Sony standard articulated
by the Supreme Court requires that the technology be originally designed
for a legitimate use. But she claims that Napster is tainted because
it was developed by Fanning specifically to facilitate the trading of pirated
music and therefore should not qualify for protection under Sony.
Boies disagress with Ginsburg's position and emphasizes that the ruling
focuses on the existence of noninfringing uses, not the impetus for creation
of the underlying technology. To the Napster legal team, the proper
question is whether Napster is commercially capable of substantial
noninfringing
uses -- and not necessarily at present, future applications should be considered
in the calculus as well.