In a postscript to the Supreme Court’s Napster decision last year, U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson ruled yesterday against Streamcast, the distributor of Morpheus P2P software, saying that the company encouraged users to violate copyright laws. In his decision, Judge Wilson granted a coalition of entertainment companies and organizations summary judgment, saying there is more than enough evidence for “massive infringement” taking place on Streamcast’s network.
Wilson’s decision yesterday stands in polar contrast to his 2003 decision in the same case. In his earlier ruling, Wilson likened P2P networks to the VCR, which had been determined in the Supreme Court’s landmark Betamax decision to be immune to copyright infrinement liabilities.
But, in the Grokster case the Supreme Court set a standard for deterimining liability for P2P networks, namely whether they induced their users to commit copyright infringment. In so doing, the Court sent Wilson’s case back to him for a new look. In his decision yesterday, Judge Willson said “in the record before the court, evidence of StreamCast’s unlawful intent is overwhelming.”
Sharman Networks, owner of Morpheus rival Kazaa, already settled its case with the record companies, paying $115 million and agreeing to work out deals for authorized content distribution.
Cynthia Brumfield at 8:03 AM|Comments(0)
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