Tetromino weblog

Another Supreme Court decision: today, the Supreme Court of the US ruled in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer v. Grokster. Grokster, a notorious for-profit p2p network, claimed that its right to produce p2p software was protected by the Betamax decision, because Grokster had some uses that did not involve copyright infringement. However, in a 9-0 decision, the Court ruled that

One who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, going beyond mere distribution with knowledge of third-party action, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties using the device, regardless of the device’s lawful uses.

I am of a mixed mind on this decision. On the one hand, it seems that a product like Grokster — which was marketed exclusively as a tool for copyright infringement — should not be able to use the Betamax loophole under the current US copyright law. (The current US copyright law, of course, needs some significant changes, but that’s another story.) On the other hand, the problem is the standard of proof. What does it mean to distribute “with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright”? Suppose I write a DVD backup program. Am I liable unless I make a good-faith effort to market it to non-pirates? Or am I liable unless I don’t mention anywhere that the program could be used to pirate commercial content? Or am I liable unless I deliberately cripple the program to prevent the average user from using it for piracy? Or am I liable unless I give Hollywood $$$cashmoney?

Basically — what do I need to do to make sure the MPAA and RIAA don’t bankrupt me with their lawsuits?

The Court doesn’t say…

ADDENDUM: turns out that the EFF basically agrees with my thoughts. The Grokster decision’s vagueness is not good for software innovation.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 27th, 2005 at 19:36 and is filed under General, politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.