The Supreme Court's landmark decision in Sony Corporation of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. (a.k.a. the "Sony Betamax ruling") held that a distributor cannot held liable for users' infringement so long as the tool is capable of substantial noninfringing uses. In MGM v. Grokster, the Ninth Circuit found that P2P file-sharing software is capable of, and is in fact being used for, noninfringing uses. Relying on the Betamax precedent, the court ruled that the distributors of Grokster and Morpheus software cannot be held liable for users' copyright violations. The plaintiffs appealed, and in December 2004 the Supreme Court granted certiorari.
"The copyright law principles set out in the Sony Betamax case have served innovators, copyright industries, and the public well for 20 years," said Fred von Lohmann, EFF's senior intellectual property attorney. "We at EFF look forward to the Supreme Court reaffirming the applicability of Betamax in the 21st century."
For more about what's at stake in the case, see:
- Tech Dodges a Bullet, by Fred von Lohmann [Law.com]
- Betamax Was a Steppingstone, by Fred von Lohmann [San Jose Mercury News]
- Oral Arguments before the 9th Circuit
Audio: [WMA 10.4MB | MP3 16.4MB | OGG 16.5MB]
Transcript available here, courtesy of Groklaw (February 3, 2004)
Press Conference Audio
- MP3 Audio of the March 1st Press Conference [MP3, 37M]
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