Can The Grokster Settlement Close The File-Sharing Pandora's Box?
November 29, 2005
Last month, Grokster apparently gave up. The P2P filing-sharing service Nov. 7 filed documents with a Los Angeles federal court reporting that it had reached a settlement in its lengthy legal case with the nation's largest record companies, motion picture studios and music publishers, as represented by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). <br>This decision leads many experts to believe that a distributor of P2P technology with a legitimate intent not to infringe others' rights would not be liable for a third-party infringing use of the technology. But despite that perhaps being the case, the Court failed to create a bright-line test to help identify a "clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement" which, as Justice Breyer stated in his concurring opinion and as discussed in this article, could have a chilling effect on others creating or advancing file-swapping and other possibly legitimate technologies. Future litigations will necessarily turn on a case-by-case basis not as to the nature of the technology but potentially on the distributors' business plans.
Net News
November 01, 2005
U.S. Senators Turning Up Heat on Peer-to-Peer Pirates Lawmakers pushed federal authorities last month to crack down on peer-to-peer (P2P) services that…
Music Piracy Defendants Fighting Back
November 01, 2005
In the last year ' particularly in the last 6 months ' a growing number of defendants have refused to settle music industry suits, challenging what they allege are groundless lawsuits filed by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Cameo Clips
November 01, 2005
Recent cases in entertainment law.
<b>Anatomy of a Practice:</b> Washington, DC's Jenner & Block Builds Music and Movie Client Base
November 01, 2005
Three years ago, the closest most lawyers at Jenner & Block came to the entertainment industry were the compact discs its partners bought or the movies its associates rented. But now, Jenner & Block has been tapped to solidify the industry's role on the Web, edging out law firms with longer histories representing publishing and production companies. Add that to Jenner & Block's recent victory as lead Supreme Court counsel in <i>MGM Studios v. Grokster</i>, and the firm is quickly shaping up as a prominent player in the expanding industry.
Courthouse Steps
November 01, 2005
Recently filed cases in entertainment law, straight from the steps of the Los Angeles Superior Court.
Bit Parts
November 01, 2005
Recent developments in entertainment law.
Ringtones Breed Tension Within Music Industry
November 01, 2005
By 2004, mastertones were the hot new thing. They had replaced polyphonic ringtones (multipitched tunes), which had replaced monophonic ringtones. Mastertones were compressed snippets of studio-recorded music. In order to offer them to the public, ringtone content aggregators needed to obtain both publishing clearance and permission from those who held the rights to the recordings. That meant negotiating with record companies.
<b>Decision of Note:</b> Rapper Isn't Public Figure
November 01, 2005
The Court of Appeals of Georgia, Fourth Division, found that a local rap artist wasn't a public figure for purposes of a defamation suit over comments made about him on a local radio station.
