Grokster Ltd. was a privately-owned software company based in Nevis, West Indies that created the Grokster P2P file-sharing client in 2001 that utilized the FastTrack protocol. Grokster Ltd. was rendered extinct by the United States Supreme Court's decision in MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. The court ruled against Grokster's peer-to-peer file sharing program for computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, effectively forcing the company to cease operations. The product was similar in look and feel to Kazaa which is marketed by Sharman Networks. For other uses, see Nevis (disambiguation). ... The Caribbean or the West Indies is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. ... A peer-to-peer (or P2P) computer network is a network that relies on the computing power and bandwidth of the participants in the network rather than concentrating it in a relatively few servers. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... FastTrack is a peer-to-peer protocol, used by the Kazaa (and variants, Grokster and iMesh) file sharing programs. ... Holding Producers of technology who promote the ease of infringing on copyrights can be sued for inducing copyright infringement committed by their users. ... File sharing is the activity of making files available to other users for download over the Internet, but also over smaller networks. ... Windows redirects here. ... // An operating system (OS) is the software that manages the sharing of the resources of a computer. ... Kazaa Media Desktop (once capitalized as KaZaA, but now usually left as Kazaa) is a peer-to-peer file sharing application using the FastTrack protocol. ... Sharman Networks is a company headquartered in Australia and incorporated in Vanuatu. ...

A summary of the "piracy" argument

It has been estimated that 90% of files shared on Grokster were downloaded illegally. [1] Whether such downloads have substantially affected the retail sales of music, videos, and other works protected by copyright and the intellectual property laws is a matter of debate.[2] Not to be confused with copywriting. ... For the 2006 film, see Intellectual Property (film). ...

The key issue in the copyright infringement case was the so-called Sony safe-harbor principle that was set by the Supreme Court 21 years ago in Sony v. Universal Studios 464 U.S. 417 (1984). The ruling stated that, "…the sale of copying equipment, like the sale of other articles of commerce, does not constitute contributory infringement if the product is widely used for legitimate, unobjectionable purposes. Indeed, it need merely be capable of substantial non-infringing uses." (Sony 464 U.S. at 442). Grokster argued that proof of reasonable, actual or potential, non-infringing use, is sufficient to fulfil the ""substantiality"" requirement. The RIAA and MPAA argued that Sony safe-harbor requires proof that the non-infringing use is the primary one; an incidental non-infringing use is not enough. The Cathach of St. ... Holding Manufacturers of home video recording machines could not be liable for contributory copyright infringement for the potential uses by its purchasers, because the devices were sold for legitimate purposes and had substantial non-infringing uses. ...

Among the amicus curiae briefs: Amicus curiae (plural amici curiae) is a legal Latin phrase, literally translated as friend of the court, that refers to a person or entity that is not a party to a case that volunteers to offer information on a point of law or some other aspect of the case to...

• The U.S. government proposed that a manufacturer of technological device will be protected by Sony safe-harbor only if the non-infringing uses are commercially significant compared to the infringing uses.
• A group of law and economic professors (among them Professors Kenneth J. Arrow, and William M. Landes) argue that the test whether the non-infringing use is substantial, requires an examination of all the existing legal mechanisms for accomplishing the same task. The example given is the distribution of the Bible. This is lawfully available through P2P file sharing software and is therefore a non-infringing use. But many religious websites offer a free copy. Thus, since downloading the Bible through P2P file sharing software is an addition to the list of well-established legitimate methods for obtaining a free Bible, the benefits of this addition are not substantial and the overall use of P2P software should not be considered a non-infringing use.
• The cost-benefit analysis, first introduced by Judge Posner from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in the Aimster case, holds that a manufacturer of technological device will enjoy the Sony safe-harbor only if "...it would have been disproportionately costly for him to eliminate or at least reduce substantially the infringing uses."
• The Creative Commons organization presented a strong argument for non-infringing use in the form of the Creative Commons licence, despite the fact that the architecture of the software did not allow for the licence to be transferred.

The Creative Commons (CC) is a non-profit organization devoted to expanding the range of creative work available for others legally to build upon and share. ...

Supreme Court decision leads to shutdown

Grokster closed its site on November 7, 2005. A note on its home page cited a United States Supreme Court ruling that copying copyrighted material using "unauthorized peer-to-peer services is illegal" and while legal download services exist, "this service is not one of them." The company has said it hoped to establish a "legal" service soon, referencing a new URL: www.grokster3g.com.

The history of the case in the U.S. courts

In April 2003, Los Angeles federal court judge, Stephen Wilson, ruled in favor of Grokster and Streamcast (providers of Morpheus P2P software) against the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Industry and held that their file sharing software was not illegal. 2003 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December - → A timeline of events in the news for April 2003. ... Nickname: Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates: , State County Settled 1781 Incorporated April 4, 1850 Government  - Type Mayor-Council  - Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa  - City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo  - Governing body City Council Area  - City  498. ... Morpheus is the name of a file sharing peer to peer client for Microsoft Windows, operated by the company StreamCast, that originally used the OpenNAP and P2P platform. ... The RIAA Logo. ... The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is a non-profit trade association formed to advance the interests of movie studios. ...

On 20 August 2003, the decision was appealed by the RIAA and the MPAA. is the 232nd day of the year (233rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

On 17 August 2004, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a partial ruling supporting Grokster, holding is the 229th day of the year (230th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: District of Alaska District of Arizona Central District of California Eastern District of California Northern District of California Southern District of California District of Hawaii...

This appeal presents the question of whether distributors of peer-to-peer file-sharing computer networking software may be held contributorily or vicariously liable for copyright infringements by users. Under the circumstances presented by this case, we conclude that the defendants are not liable for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement and affirm the district court's partial grant of summary judgment.

In December 2004, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. On 25 March 2005, billionaire and former Broadcast.com owner Mark Cuban announced he would finance Grokster's fight in the Supreme Court. Oral arguments were held for MGM v. Grokster on 29 March 2005, and in June 2005, the Court unanimously held that Grokster could indeed be sued for infringement for their activities prior to the date of this judgment. But the future impact of the case may only be to require software companies to more carefully advertise their packages to discourage illegal downloading. ← - 2004 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → Deaths in December • 30 Artie Shaw • 29 Julius Axelrod • 28 Jacques Dupuis • 28 Jerry Orbach • 28 Susan Sontag • 26 Reggie White • 26 Sir Angus Ogilvy • 23 P. V. Narasimha Rao • 23 Doug Ault • 19 Renata Tebaldi • 16... Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Atlas  US Government Portal      The Supreme Court of the United States (sometimes colloquially referred to by the... is the 84th day of the year (85th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)[1] is an American billionaire entrepreneur. ... Holding decision pending Court membership Case opinions Laws applied Copyright Act of 1976 MGM Studios, Inc. ... is the 88th day of the year (89th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Grokster settled with plaintiffs shortly after the Supreme Court's decision. On 14 February 2006, plaintiffs filed motions for summary judgment as to the liability of the remaining defendants, StreamCast and Sharman. Defendant Sharman reached a tentative settlement agreement in August 2006. is the 45th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Sharman is a surname, and may refer to Alison Sharman Bill Sharman (born 1926), U.S. basketball player and coach Charles Henry Ludovic Sharman Colin Sharman, Baron Sharman Dave Sharman British guitar virtuoso. ... Sharman is a surname, and may refer to Alison Sharman Bill Sharman (born 1926), U.S. basketball player and coach Charles Henry Ludovic Sharman Colin Sharman, Baron Sharman Dave Sharman British guitar virtuoso. ... August 2006 is the eighth month of that year, and has yet to occur. ...

On 27 September 2006, Judge Steven Wilson of the United States District Court for the Central District of California granted summary judgment to the Plaintiffs as to StreamCast's liability. The court rejected StreamCast's argument that the Plaintiff need show specific instances of infringement resulting from StreamCast's acts, holding that "Plaintiff need prove only that StreamCast distributed the product with the intent to encourage infringement." ^[1] is the 270th day of the year (271st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

External links

• MGM v. Grokster case documents
• The Legality of File Sharing - MGM vs Grokster
• MGM v. Grokster Ninth Circuit oral argument transcript
• MGM v. Grokster: Day 1 - March 30, 2005 MP3 Newswire recap of first day of trial
• Legally Speaking: Did MGM Really Win the Grokster Case? Pamela Samuelson
• Technical Background of Grokster Decision - Philip Larson's Blog
• Legal Background of Grokster Decision - Philip Larson's Blog
• Summary of Supreme Court Decision - Philip Larson's Blog
• Advanced Peer-Based Technology Business Models. Ghosemajumder, Shuman. MIT Sloan School of Management, 2002.
• Music Downloads: Pirates- or Customers?. Silverthorne, Sean. Harvard Business School Working Knowledge, 2004.