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| MGM shut down Grokster |
| Tuesday, November 08, 2005 at 18:46 by Rich Kavanagh |
The owners and operators of the Grokster peer-to-peer (P2P) network - the lead and most well-known defendants in one of the Supreme Court's seminal decisions this year and the most profound case affecting copyright laws in two decades - have agreed to settle the three-year-old legal case with the nation's major record companies, motion picture studios and music publishers. A consent judgment will be submitted to the court today for its approval.
Coming just four months after the Supreme Court's ruling in MGM vs. Grokster - and on the heels of a rapid succession of similar international rulings in Korea, Australia and Taiwan - the music industry today hailed the settlement as an important milestone in the continuing transformation of the online marketplace.
Mitch Bainwol, Chairman and CEO of the RIAA said,
"This settlement brings to a close an incredibly significant chapter in the story of digital music. This is a chapter that ends on a high note for the recording industry, the tech community and music fans and consumers everywhere. At the end of the day, this is about our ability to invest in new music. An online marketplace populated by legitimate services allows us to do just that.
The owners and operators of Grokster heard nine U.S. Supreme Court justices speak in a unanimous voice. As the Court articulated in no uncertain terms, there is a right way and a wrong way to conduct a business. This settlement makes clear that businesses are well aware when they are operating on the wrong side of that line."
The settlement includes a permanent injunction prohibiting infringement - directly or indirectly - of any of the plaintiffs' copyrighted works. This includes ceasing immediately distribution of the Grokster client application and ceasing to operate the Grokster system and software.
In its unanimous decision in the Grokster case, the Supreme Court noted that in regard to the defendants' actions, "the unlawful objective is unmistakable".
The Grokster web site has been replaced with a message that reads:
"The United States Supreme Court unanimously confirmed that using this service to trade copyrighted material is illegal. Copying copyrighted motion picture and music files using unauthorized peer-to-peer services is illegal and is prosecuted by copyright owners.
There are legal services for downloading music and movies. This service is not one of them.
Grokster hopes to have a safe and legal service available soon."
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