Judge rules in favor of Napster follow-ons By Russ Britt From CBS Marketwatch------

In a case that could turn the tide on online piracy, a Los Angeles judge ruled Friday in favor of online file-sharing services Grokster and Morpheus, saying the two companies are not liable for online piracy by users of their service. The follow-on services to Napster -- which was forced to give up sharing of music files -- were sued by several major entertainment companies who sought to take the firms to trial. But U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Wilson ruled in favor of the two firms. A third online file sharing service, Kazaa, is not affected by the ruling.

UPDATE:

You can download a copy of the decision at http://www.boycott-riaa.com/pdf/grokster.pdf 1.5MB PDF file...

From News.com http://news.com.com/2100-1027-998363.html

In an almost complete reversal of previous victories for the record labels and movie studios, federal court Judge Stephen Wilson ruled that Streamcast--parent of the Morpheus software--and Grokster were not liable for copyright infringements that took place using their software. The ruling does not directly affect Kazaa, software distributed by Sharman Networks, which has also been targeted by the entertainment industry.

"Defendants distribute and support software, the users of which can and do choose to employ it for both lawful and unlawful ends," Wilson wrote in his opinion, released Friday. "Grokster and Streamcast are not significantly different from companies that sell home video recorders or copy machines, both of which can be and are used to infringe copyrights."

The ruling appeared to state clearly that decentralized peer-to-peer software such as Gnutella is legal, in much the same way that the Sony videocasette recorder is protected by law.

YAY! Score one for the good guys!

ROCK ON! What a redemption from the Verizon verdict!

Kazaa told me about it. I'm glad Bill found a source. I'm looking for more details, too.

I'll check CBS.com

Confirmed on www.yahoo.com news
I try to post of there boards to see if people will gather here.
Thanks for all you do George!

It is about time a judge understood that things can be used for good and they can be used for evil. I regularly exchange huge files for a multimedia project in malaysia with a friend there. They are to big to email, it costs $50 and two weeks to ship it Fedex...not to mention the cost of the cdr packaging and going through customs...

The update is SO AWESOME!!!
Sounds like this judge has done his homework!!!!
Hope to see more of this!

Wouldn't it be ironic if the users who the RIAA want Verizon to disclose were using Grokster

Thank you!

Finally, p2p's get a little of the treatment of gun manufacturers. If someone commits a crime with a Smith & Wesson, don't close the gunsmith!

I think I can hear the Association spinning this. I wonder what the legal bills were like for them to fight this and lose? I think I smell more red ink in their future.

This is what i think the RIAA will say:
They will either be silent,
or they will say this contradicts other rulings, or they will say this judge advocates breaking the law.
Thanks

They are saying they are going to appeal.

We're coming at Hilary from all sides at once.

This battle isn't over, but it is major progress. Judge Wilson finally ruled in a P2P Networks's favor. Yes, the RIAA will appeal, but there are clear issues here:

* The technology is NOT the same as Napster, and creates directories using a VERY DIFFERENT PROCESS, in fact, using the file sharer's computers themselves, instead of through a central point. This is sure evidence of DISCONNECTION, and reduces liability for copyright.

Now, I hope an appeals court rules the same thing is true here. What the RIAA should look at is WAYS TO PAY ARTISTS FOR P2P TRANSFERS, not shutting down and banning technolgies that are not designed to their specs.

I also heard that Grokster uses the same network as KaZaa.

Morpheus uses the same network as LimeWire, BearShare, ToadNode, Shareaza, Gnucleus, Mactella, MyNapster, and many others.

Here is the opinion



http://www.eff.org/IP/P2P/MGM_v_Grokster/030425_order_on_motions.pdf

Could not agree more with StephenHinkle about "WAYS TO PAY ARTIST FOR P2P TRANSFERS" I am hoping for a better way for artist to get paid from the P2P networks.

I am looking forward to that as if it does not get to that level creative people will not have a incentive to create as they cannot support themself from thier art. But this ruling is start so that the RIAA cartel can slow down the law suits and we as artist and consumers can focus on a fair business model so that we can generate a new music economy!!!

Yipeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally a federal judge that's on our side! But I really think this is not the end, the battle is now mainly with the ISPs, now only if verison wins!

George,
what are your plans till July 5th, are u going to write an article about this?
I will help all i can till then, what can i do for you?, besides stay informed.

Ah, but remember: For every step forward, there are three steps back. (Just ask Verizon.)

And nonetheless, I predict the RIAA won't learn a thing from this ruling -- except to FURTHER ACCELERATE their anti-consumer, anti-technology vendetta. You would think, with all the proposals for artist compensation viz online file-swapping and P2P transfers out there (some of which have been floated within this website), that the RIAA would listen to one or two of them -- but, NOOOOOO! (apologies to the late John Belushi), it's all -- and always -- "my way or the highway" time.

CHECK www.YAHOO.com
ITS ON THERE HOMEPAGE!!!
Also, check out what the RIAA says about Morpheus, interesting comments

Also, check out Hillary's statment on www.riaa.com
Seems like the courts are having an effect on her, i hope we have more wins.

Finally a voice of reason in this RIAA debacle.
It's just ludicrous to think that the makers of a piece of software are responsible for the way that people use it.
If this case had went the other way, it would be interesting to see that if someone got in an accident in, let's say, a Ford car, that Ford would somehow be liable for the way in which the driver reacted.
The thing that bothers me is that this case ACTUALLY MADE IT THIS FAR.
It seems like such a cut and dry issue that this should have never made it to trial.

With the money and time that was wasted on all of this software-suing stupidity, we could have funneled that money into something more worthwhile.
If the RIAA is complaining that their sales are down, well, guess what...the whole economy is down and has been for some time now. Most businesses have been hurt by the economy, they just don't have the luxury of blaming it on the internet and file sharing.

I've said it once and I'll say it again: If the RIAA wants to see its sales go up, STOP MARKETING SHIT!

Okay, here's what I see on this. Leflaw can poke a hole in it because, IANAL (I am not a lawyer).

The key seems to be the non-infringing uses and the lack of the consumer's ability to detect what is and what is not authorized for use.

The more authorized music we can put on Kazaa or our new net or both or whatever else we can dream up, the less and less the ability of the record labels (and even the MPAA) to shut them down for actual infringing uses.

The problem right now is that the majority of the music on Kazaa is "illegal" by the RIAA's definition.

If we make it the minority, the entire issue becomes moot. WE step between the consumers and the RIAA.

Because of this news, my Kazaa meeting got put off until Monday. It popped right before our meeting.

All is going according to plan.

directive, I'm trying to write about some of this, but every time I get half way through a new article, everything changes again.

That's a very good thing, you know. This entire movement is accelerating rapidly. It won't take much longer, but we just can't relax. We have to hammer every day.

What am I doing until July 4? Saving the music. And you're all helping immensely.

Thanks

And don't you love the fact that Sony is the evidence against the RIAA?

It is ironic isn't it?

Bells & whistles & cannons. Yay for Fred EFF. This has been the firs victory in a long bad season.

I will personally hunt down each of you Dmusic Dawgs if you don't donate a buck to Electronic Freedom Foundation. You cannot imagine what the world would be like if Pam Samuelson and John Perry Barlow hadn't thrown themselves as human shields in front of the Bruce Lehman/White House Paper/DMCA. Read up on your Jessica Litman book.

The Judiciary Committee is now in the hands of fire-breathing neocon Lamar Smith of Texas, who today said "P2P is the same as walking in a stoer----"--you know the rest. No amount of shout downs and criticism from the Good Guys (us) keeps these Kopyright Kops from mouthing the platitude so well-formed in the lips of genius Britney Spears.

Boucher has taken his battle to the Commerce Committee (where he freaked out young Mitch Glazier in 1992.)

A few thoughts. Boucher told me personally in January, that a legitimate Technology Court would be established, and get rid of the Copyright Office. In his words, "there are a few good Federal Judges!" He said a few other choice words about bribery in the Copyright Office, but I'll forego the discretion---

I nominate Judge Wilson for Technology Judge. I saw him in action a few months ago at the hearings, and he was brutal with Cary Ramos and Russ Frackman of the RIAA. Made them sweat buckets and weep croc tears.

Well, it turns out Judge Wilson bought Fred's VCR theory in toto.

Right on.

I did not read the replies yet. But I am so happy for this being decided AMEIN. I hope it does not get overthrown. To those that know legal system inside out. I have a question? Can this ruling be overthrown?

Thanks

Don't forget that the RIAA will go after the Individual.

Yes, it can be overturned. As a matter of fact both the MPAA and RIAA have both said they intend to appeal the decision.

It will be overturned most likely.

What is this the first judge that didn't support the Industry positions out of how many cases? I'm sure the one above this one in the Appelate court will reverse it.

It CAN be overturned, in theory.

I sincerely think our move to flood the net with free music will take hold before the RIAA can get the case heard at the next level.

As we increase the authorized uses, the power of the RIAA's case dwindles proportionately.

Unless they somehow manage to criminalize Sony's entire (highly profitable) electronics division to benefit Sony Music (highly inefficient).

Ain't gonna happen. No way. No how.

And I wrote Hilary a note to tell her exactly that. Asked her if she had an opinion on webcasting payola, too. I know she reviewed my story.

And still, not a cluck from the chicken house.

You know, I've been taunting Hilary for weeks. I heard she always gets the last word. I heard she likes the fight. I heard she's unbeatable.

She's got nothing but a lame story.
I'd take her on, face to face on live TV. Give me a half hour and this bullshit will be over forever.

And I'll let her talk for the first 25 minutes.

She's got nothing.

Hey, we reversed Judge Rakoff!!! These guys lose all the time.

As of my post RIAA website has gone down! SQL server error. I copy and pasted here: Error Occurred While Processing Request
Error Diagnostic Information
ODBC Error Code = 08001 (Unable to connect to data source)


[Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][Shared Memory]SQL Server does not exist or access denied.



The error occurred while processing an element with a general identifier of (CFQUERY), occupying document position (2:1) to (2:70).


Date/Time: 04/26/03 04:17:12
Browser: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.0.3705)
Remote Address: XX.XX.XXX.X

As of now, it is back up, TuxLiker.

This is astounding. I don't know how I missed this yesterday, but it is nice to finally see a judge do his homework. The challenge now is will the appeals court judges do their homework?

It is a sound ruling IMHO, but again, IANAL. Grokster did not write the software, they didn't create it. They only license it.

We still need to, as George said, show that there is a legitimate use for Kazaa, Grokster et al. We need artists to put their music on Kazaa and put on their websites a button of some sort saying 'We distribute our music on Kazaa LEGALLY'. While I seriously dislike the amount of crappy spyware distributed with it (Kazaa Lite folks), it is the biggest network out there.

This was unexpected. The RIAA websites been braging about this for months, and now they lose? Its not over through. Can this be appealed? If so, it will be.

More non-infringeing work would help through. Theres a spyware-free version of imesh, also using the fasttrack network, on my website.

I saw this sites link on a yahoo board. Nice to hear this news finally. RIAA cant win against P2P and this proves it....

SinisterX,
Thanks for coming here. I had hoped my writings might bring people here to help.

directive, i'm sure if the link gets posted enough on yahoo, people will venture here like i did. I mainly use yahoo for news. and just happened to see the link for this site there, did you post it? it probably got buried in the sea of postings. they post a mile a minute over there.

I don't know about the RIAA appealing. P2P is the defendant in these cases. And the US Constitution specifically says that once you're found not guilty for something, you can be charged with it again (Double Jeopardy clause) But, the RIAA, always finding something illegal, will undoubtedly find something else illegal about Morpheus and Grokster.

SinisterX,
I am not sure, but i did post a few posts that said to visit this site.
Thanks

Finding something else illegal wouldn't be that easy. They cant be accused of contributory copyright infringement again, because the judge said there is infringement on their networks and its not their responsibility. With a precident like that they could fend off most suits.

This ruleing doesn't apply to centralised networks. If the RIAA was sensible it would leave these for a while and concentrate on the big one, fasttrack. But its not sensible. This time its personal . I expect when hillay heard this she must have destroyed her office . Its embarissing.

Im sure the RIAA will try something, but I dont know precisely what. Something nasty, thats all I can say.

Read what I said earlier under the Verizon ruling about a judge finally agreeing with the good side on this. We finally found one. Hopefully this will lead to more legal agreement on our side. Score one case for consumers.

HOORAY !!! HOORAY !!
Haven't I said many times, "we're gonna to win" ?? Now I may reassert this: we ARE on our way to achieve victory against RIAAites, and to preserve our freedom, and to allow OUR Internet prosper.

It's a great victory which reaffirms me, that there are some honest judges in the USA (and in other countries, too), and that not all of them are "bought" by the 'lobbying groups'. His Honor, Judge Stephen Wilson is among those honest, good judges, who value both the spirit and the letter of law, rather than various pressures coming from 'big $$$'. HAIL MP3! HAIL P2P! HAIL Judge Wilson !!!

-- Critto

ES5 Webpage: http://es5.com
ES5 FORUM: http://forums.es5.com

There is a new P2P program called ESV that HIDES YOUR IP ON UPLOAD AND DOWNLOAD, has the ability to Penetrate University Firewalls, and uses SSL to encrypt the connection. They are the worst nightmare of the RIAA and their network is growing rapidly. Also, there is no adware, advertisements, or spyware in the program!

ES5 Webpage: http://es5.com
ES5 Forums: http://forums.es5.com

Awesome

HAIL ES5!!