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June 27, 2005
Grokster vs. MGM
Many customers are probably wondering how the MGM vs. Grokster decision affects us. The answer is -- not much.
Despite the headlines that the Studios won, the key is in how the service is promoted. It's well explained from this article on Bloomberg:
"The decision is less far-reaching than technology companies feared," said James Gibson, a Richmond Law School professor who specializes in intellectual property and computer law. "The court focused not on technological capability itself but on whether particular defendants promoted the technology to infringe on copyright."
If Grokster said "Rip off Music" in their marketing, then they are toast. However, I believe they are smarter than that. The case now goes to trial with a guidline from the SCOTUS. Should be interesting to see how it's resolved.
(Update: After rereading the Supreme Court decision, it appears they were indeed saying "Rip off music". Maybe not those exact words, but their marketing efforts were clearly directed at capturing Napster users. In that regard, they may be toast.)
Applian Technologies does not support the illegal use of our software for infringing on content owner copyrights. We believe in fair use, and all of our recording products are built with that in mind. The major difference is that Grokster gave you access to copyrighted media that you otherwise had no ability to access. We do no such thing.
I don't know how we can make this any clearer than what we put on the bottom of every page on our site.
Now - back to making some more great software!
Posted by Bill Dettering at June 27, 2005 11:07 AM