P2P-Zone - View Single Post - Supreme Court: File-Sharing Services May Be Sued

Mazer · 27-06-05, 06:50 PM

You're correct DeadMan, the ruling only seems to apply to companies that profit from filesharing, especially the ones that promote copyright infringement. These companies probably can't be charged in criminal courts, but this decision opens up lawsuits in civil courts. From a legislative point of view this has two effects: first the INDUCE Act which was defeated in Congress last year is now effectively case law (minus criminal liability) so there's no reason for Congress to consider a similar law in the future, and second the DMCA Reform Act (HR 1201) must be enacted in order to protect the Betamax defense, since today's court decision only weakens that precedent.

27-06-05, 06:50 PM	#3
Mazer Earthbound misfit Join Date: May 2001 Location: Moses Lake, Washington Posts: 2,563	You're correct DeadMan, the ruling only seems to apply to companies that profit from filesharing, especially the ones that promote copyright infringement. These companies probably can't be charged in criminal courts, but this decision opens up lawsuits in civil courts. From a legislative point of view this has two effects: first the INDUCE Act which was defeated in Congress last year is now effectively case law (minus criminal liability) so there's no reason for Congress to consider a similar law in the future, and second the DMCA Reform Act (HR 1201) must be enacted in order to protect the Betamax defense, since today's court decision only weakens that precedent.