Issues in Scholarly Communication is a newsletter produced by Paula Kaufman, University Librarian and Dean of Libraries, for the Illinois community. Entries from 2001-2005 newsletter are available.
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By Amy Schatz, Sarah Mcbride and Nick Wingfield, Staff Reporters of The Wall Street Journal. June 28, 2005; Page B1
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that file-sharing companies may be liable for copyright infringement if their products encourage consumers to illegally swap songs and movies. The decision is a victory for entertainment companies that clears the way for further piracy-related law suits. [snip]
The court's unanimous decision in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios v. Grokster Ltd. is a landmark in the ongoing battle over copyright on the Internet that has wracked the music sector and at times pitted the nation's technology and entertainment powerhouses against each other. Some legal experts say the ruling outlines a new test for determining the legality of technology that can be harnessed for illicit activities, centered around whether its creators actively induce users to infringe. And it raises serious questions for makers of the file-sharing software commonly used to trade songs and videos.
Read on...(UIUC users, only) or read the full ruling [PDF] with thanks to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Posted by at June 28, 2005 12:39 PM
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