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180:, these file sharing programs allowed users to trade files directly between one another, without these transactions passing through a centralized server. Because Napster maintained this fraction of control over the transaction of files through its server, it was ruled illegal because it should have exercised its power over the server to stop the sharing of copyright infringing files. Grokster and this second generation of peer-to-peer file sharing programs sought to avoid this legal obstacle.
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265:(CEO Michael Malcolm), Sling Media, Inc. (Founder Raghu Tarra), Time Trax Technologies Corp. (CEO Elliott Frutkin) argued unwarranted alteration of the test set forth in Sony Corp. v. Universal City Studios, 464 U.S. 417 (1984), that would have profound negative consequences for emerging technology companies. Determining a product’s "primary uses" necessarily requires evaluating how the product is actually used. This
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for how much of this reduction in individual file sharing is simply shifted to other file sharing programs. In cases where the RIAA has issued threats, the users who conduct the most file sharing usually reduced their daily transactions to levels below the level of prosecution. In effect, these warnings have only caused only a brief reduction in overall online file sharing.
269:, or after-the-fact, test for contributory infringement would greatly increase the legal uncertainty surrounding the decision to pursue commercialization of a new technology. Emerging technology companies cannot necessarily predict the "primary uses" to which their new technology will be put, much less whether those uses would be held by the courts to be infringing uses.
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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
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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
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Research into the effects of warnings such as the one left on
Grokster’s website has shown that while these warnings can result in a substantial reduction in online file sharing of individuals, the overall availability of downloadable content did not diminish. Furthermore, researchers cannot account
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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 needs to show specific instances of infringement
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software and is therefore a non-infringing use. But many religious websites offer a free copy. Thus, since downloading the Bible through peer-to-peer 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
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tapes. Grokster argued that proof of reasonable, actual or potential, non-infringing use, is sufficient to fulfill 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
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in which prosecutors are required to gain a series of subpoenas in order to find out the identity of the user behind the IP address in question. Following the shutdown of
Grokster, blogs became inundated with concerned users fearful of the warning; however, there have been no reports of the use of
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laws is a matter of debate. Grokster claimed they did not violate any copyright laws because no files passed through their computers. They assigned certain user computers as "root supernodes" that acted as music hubs for their company. Thus they were not responsible for controlling any specific
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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
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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
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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."
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The United States
Supreme Court unanimously confirmed that using this service to trade copyrighted material is illegal. Copying copyrighted motion picture and music files using unauthorized peer-to-peer services is illegal and is prosecuted by copyright owners.
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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
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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 information to be
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In the aftermath of the
Grokster warning, many users became alarmed that their IP addresses were being stored. Prosecution of such individuals relies upon what has commonly been referred to as a process of
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The U.S. government proposed that a manufacturer of a technological device will be protected by Sony safe-harbor only if the non-infringing uses are commercially significant compared to the infringing uses.
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It has been estimated that 90% of files shared on
Grokster were downloaded illegally. Whether such downloads have substantially affected the retail sales of music, videos, and other works protected by
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Grokster settled with plaintiffs shortly after the Supreme Court's decision. On 14 February 2006, the plaintiffs filed motions for summary judgment as to the liability of the remaining defendants,
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resulting from StreamCast's acts, holding that "Plaintiff need prove only that StreamCast distributed the product with the intent to encourage infringement."
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176:. Grokster, along with Morpheus and Kazaa, are considered second-generation peer-to-peer file sharing programs. Unlike their predecessor
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The website is now threatening visitors that their actions can get them caught, displaying the visitor's IP address.
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non-infringing uses" (Sony 464 U.S. at 442). This case challenged the legality of using VTRs to copy content using
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YOUR IP ADDRESS IS XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX AND HAS BEEN LOGGED. Don't think you can't get caught. You are not anonymous.
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case was the so-called "Sony safe-harbor" principle that was set by the Supreme Court over 21 years previously in
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The cost-benefit analysis, first introduced by Judge Posner from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in the
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140:. Grokster Ltd. was rendered extinct in late 2005 by the United States Supreme Court's decision in
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not substantial and the overall use of P2P software should not be considered a non-infringing use.
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announced he would finance Grokster's fight in the Supreme Court. Oral arguments were held for
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There are legal services for downloading music and movies. This service is not one of them.
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Bhattacharjee, Sudip; Gopal, Ram; Lertwachara, Kaveepan; Marsden, James (2006-04-01).
355:. Defendant Sharman Networks reached a tentative settlement agreement in August 2006.
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agreed to hear the case. On 25 March 2005, billionaire and former Broadcast.com owner
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On 20 August 2003, the decision was appealed by the RIAA and the MPAA.
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535:"The Effect of File Sharing on Record Sales: An Empirical Analysis"
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632:"Sharing Activity: An Analysis of Music Industry Legal Reactions"
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Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer Studios (MGM) v. Grokster, 545 U.S. (2005)
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Notable Emerging Technology Companies with the support of the
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This appeal presents the question of whether distributors of
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and held that their file sharing software was not illegal.
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Impact of legal threats and fallout from Grokster’s demise
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Screenshot of the Grokster website following its shutdown
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ruled in favor of Grokster and Streamcast (providers of
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Legally Speaking: Did MGM Really Win the Grokster Case?
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157:, effectively forcing the company to cease operations.
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MGM v. Grokster Ninth Circuit oral argument transcript
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issued a partial ruling supporting Grokster, holding
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United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
581:"Mark Cuban Finances P2P Services in Supreme Court"
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49:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
511:"Supreme Court Hears Copyright, File-Sharing Case"
233:of the Bible. This is lawfully available through
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124:was a privately owned software company based in
734:Advanced Peer-Based Technology Business Models
685:The Legality of File Sharing - MGM vs Grokster
642:(1). The University of Chicago Press: 91–114.
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160:The product was similar in look and feel to
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480:"TechNews.com's Grokster Case At a Glance"
274:The history of the case in the U.S. courts
762:Harvard Business School Working Knowledge
715:Technical Background of Grokster Decision
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292:Recording Industry Association of America
109:Learn how and when to remove this message
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363:Supreme Court decision leads to shutdown
750:Music Downloads: Pirates- or Customers?
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461:Comparison of file sharing applications
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721:Legal Background of Grokster Decision
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296:Motion Picture Association of America
533:; Strumpf, Koleman (December 2004).
47:adding citations to reliable sources
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146:The court ruled against Grokster's
143:MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd.
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599:2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73714 at *58
382:The screen text reads as follows:
150:program for computers running the
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727:Summary of Supreme Court Decision
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558:McGuire, David (28 March 2005).
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184:A summary of the piracy argument
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34:needs additional citations for
1277:BitTorrent protocol encryption
743:MIT Sloan School of Management
680:MGM v. Grokster case documents
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602:
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560:"At a Glance: MGM v. Grokster"
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259:Electronic Frontier Foundation
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579:Newton, Jon (28 March 2005).
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136:client in 2001 that used the
636:Journal of Law and Economics
414:doe subpoenas in this case.
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701:recap of first day of trial
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172:, which was distributed by
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290:P2P software) against the
132:that created the Grokster
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805:Peer-to-peer file sharing
314:peer-to-peer file-sharing
235:peer-to-peer file sharing
207:Sony v. Universal Studios
148:peer-to-peer file sharing
134:peer-to-peer file-sharing
1307:Micro Transport Protocol
432:Don't Download This Song
1045:Advanced Direct Connect
304:On 17 August 2004, the
1257:Distributed hash table
1132:Game and video sharing
760:. Silverthorne, Sean.
729:- Philip Larson's Blog
723:- Philip Larson's Blog
717:- Philip Larson's Blog
695:MGM v. Grokster: Day 1
430:mentions Grokster in "
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321:In December 2004, the
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202:copyright infringement
1328:File sharing software
739:Ghosemajumder, Shuman
531:Oberholzer-Gee, Felix
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200:The key issue in the
194:intellectual property
547:on 26 February 2006.
317:of summary judgment.
43:improve this article
565:The Washington Post
485:The Washington Post
338:illegal downloading
1297:BitTorrent tracker
755:2006-06-30 at the
422:In popular culture
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263:Kaleidescape, Inc.
138:FastTrack protocol
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1302:UDP hole punching
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770:- Civil liberties
697:- March 30, 2005
509:(29 March 2005).
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152:Microsoft Windows
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60: –
59:
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54:Find sources:
48:
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38:
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32:This article
30:
26:
21:
20:
1250:technologies
1127:Disk sharing
934:Perfect Dark
748:
732:
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699:MP3 Newswire
639:
635:
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613:. Retrieved
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586:MP3 Newswire
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542:the original
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490:. Retrieved
488:. 2005-03-28
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416:
411:doe subpoena
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261:(among them
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41:Please help
36:verification
33:
1262:Merkle tree
1230:Private P2P
1162:Web hosting
1147:Peercasting
1033:Comparisons
985:Audiogalaxy
826:Centralized
336:discourage
280:Los Angeles
130:West Indies
1322:Categories
1084:Hyperlinks
1075:WebTorrent
1050:BitTorrent
954:WebTorrent
939:Retroshare
929:OnionShare
859:BitTorrent
610:"Grokster"
492:2012-04-17
467:References
349:StreamCast
340:(see also
327:Mark Cuban
219:Among the
174:StreamCast
99:March 2010
69:newspapers
58:"Grokster"
1152:Seedboxes
1070:Gnutella2
899:Gnutella2
874:FastTrack
818:protocols
190:copyright
1248:Internal
1189:Concepts
1166:Freesite
1101:Metalink
1065:Gnutella
1005:Morpheus
1000:LimeWire
978:Historic
894:Gnutella
884:Hyphanet
843:Soulseek
838:Soribada
813:Networks
753:Archived
664:14550974
439:See also
396:—
294:and the
288:Morpheus
225:briefs:
216:enough.
192:and the
170:Morpheus
1215:Darkweb
1210:Darknet
1197:Privacy
1174:ZeroNet
1060:eDonkey
1037:clients
1010:Napster
969:ZeroNet
949:Tribler
869:eDonkey
764:, 2004.
745:, 2002.
615:18 June
353:Sharman
243:Aimster
213:Betamax
178:Napster
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1117:Backup
1096:Magnet
990:CuteMX
924:OpenFT
889:GNUnet
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1287:SHA-2
1282:SHA-1
1020:WASTE
1015:Scour
995:Kazaa
964:Winny
959:WinMX
944:Share
879:Fopnu
660:S2CID
652:JSTOR
545:(PDF)
538:(PDF)
162:Kazaa
126:Nevis
90:JSTOR
76:books
1170:IPFS
1110:Uses
1091:eD2k
919:LBRY
909:IPFS
617:2010
351:and
249:The
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1235:Tor
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