January 22, 2005
Date Set for Grokster
Oral arguments will be held March 29.
Who’s planning to come out for it? I’m scheming travel arrangements, though I would imagine it will be even trickier to get into this than to Eldred – only 25 people from the general public were allowed in then. Who’s going to camp out?
Filed by Derek Slater at 4:01 pm under General news
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The first brief on the merits before the Supreme Court in MGM Studios v. Grokster was filed Friday, January 21, by the Video Software Dealers Association. The brief suggests that while p2p systems may be used for infringing and noninfringing uses, courts should consider whether technologies may be used to reduce infringing uses without over-burdening the system provider, the freedom of speech for non-infringing uses (including by copyright owners who want p2p systems to be used to reach their audiences) or the freedom of competition (including first sale doctrine principles) of retailers and all intermediate software and services that make downloading possible. Bringing a retailer perspective, it strikes a balance of respect for copyright and respect for the limits the law places on those copyrights. The brief is available (in PDF) at http://interactionlaw.com/id5.html and at http://www.vsda.org/Resource.phx/vsda/government/positionstatements/grokster.htx.