WILL GROKSTER MAX OUT
ITS APPEAL?
The Supremes' fateful wording in Universal vs. Sony, commonly known as the "Betamax" case, held that "substantial noninfringing uses" of the then-controversial VCR obviated claims by the film industry that it should be outlawed because of its potential as a tool of piracy.
Sony was thus allowed to continue making the Betamax, though the format was later made obsolete by VHS, which became the standard for the medium. As a result, of course, consumers stopped going to movies and the film industry vanished from the face of the earth.
Industry attorney Russ Frackman may have hoped for a friendlier response to his argument that 90% of the material moving through P2P networks like Grokster's is illict.
"So 10% is noninfringing? That sounds like a lot of noninfringing files to me," Judge John Noonan reportedly observed.
"Ah... heh-heh... did I say 90%?" Frackman replied. "Well, er, the, ah, the thing of it is, you see... ha... is it getting warm in here?"
OK, we made that last part up. But another judge on the panel asked if rights holders' demands that swapcos filter content would really make a difference.
In April, a U.S. judge in Los Angeles declared Grokster and fellow P2P entity StreamCast Networks weren't liable for copyright violations occurring through their "client" software.
Meanwhile, Grokster, which is a Klingon word meaning "chutzpah" (OK, we also made that up), announced its new Version 2.6 build and declared itself in a press release to be carrying on a "fight for freedom."
"Big media can be countered with technology," founer Henry Wilson declared. "The people can create their own alternative to the centralized sources that pervade the traditional mediums—right from their own desktops. Man the barricades! Viva la revolucion! Let us all download Janet Jackson titty photos and old episodes of Buffy! Once more into the breach, dear friends..."
