To recap, Grokster agreed to pay $50 million to the RIAA and to a permanent injunction prohibiting infringement of the plaintiffs’ copyrights (the MPAA was the other plaintiff in the suit). It will no longer distribute the application or engage in any type of profit-generating activity. None of this affects those millions who have already downloaded the Grokster software, apart from possibly making them a bit more aware of the illegality of their activities.
So was Grokster’s decision to shut down a milestone, as “entertainment industry executives” are reported to have proclaimed, or irrelevant in that the toothpaste has long been out of the tube, as skeptics disdainfully note?
"We can't jam the genie entirely back in the bottle," RIAA chief Mitch Bainwol admitted to the Washington Post, "But we can get to a point where the legal services will dominate." In the same report, BigChampagne’s Eric Garland said the Grokster settlement is equivalent to benching "a ball boy," because the four-year-old operation has been outstripped by newer, more technologically sophisticated services like eDonkey and BitTorrent. Said
Attorney Fred von Lohmann, who repped co-defendant StreamCast in the Supreme Court case, agreed. "There's no way you can protect music in a way that is going to stop the free trading of it," he asserted. "All of the mechanisms so far have been almost laughably weak."
As
Others feel the sale of Grokster to Mashboxx for $1 (that is not a typo) sends a clear message to other P2Ps about the value of their assets. "It's very clear that the main effect of the court's Grokster ruling has been to force these businesses to accept that they don't have a viable business model," intellectual-property specialist Justin Hughes told The Wall Street Journal. "You can't go to the venture-capital markets and say 'Please fund my totally illegal business plan.'"
"Their liability was more than they could realistically afford," consultant John Rose told Phyllis Furman in the N.Y. Daily News. "The bill has come due on distributing content without paying for it."
In The N.Y. Times, Jeff Leeds pointed out that Mashboxx just happens to be the brainchild of ex-Grokster President Wayne Rosso. The "safe and legal" service now in the planning stages under Rosso’s supervision will eventually make its appearance at www.grokster3g.com.
VMAs BEAMING BACK
TO THE BIG APPLE Getting back to where they once belonged (4/24a)
THE COUNT: ALL THE DESERT'S A STAGE
Jon Wayne is rolling over in his grave. (4/24a)
| ||
THE NEW UMG
Gosh, we hope there are more press releases.
TIKTOK BANNED!
Unless the Senate manages to make this whole thing go away, that is.
THE NEW HUGE COUNTRY ACT
No, not that one.
TRUMP'S CAMPAIGN PLAYLIST
Now 100% unlicensed!
|