StreamCast Goes To Trial
So, this is good news. Grokster's codefendant in the Supreme Court case is now going to follow this through and provide the entertainment, legal and venture capital communities some security in this litigious world. I've felt all along they would win if one of these spineless P2P's would stand strong and I find Michael Weiss' hubris inspiring.
I mean, really, without the central servers and incriminating Sean Parker memos, Napster probably could have found the protection it needed under Sony. I wonder whether they will be able to get a jury trial for this. I don't know why Wilson would do it, unless he's very sympathetic. God, would I love to see RIAA in front of a jury. I'd love to do a documentary on this; the drama.
RIAA: But judge, how can we find a jury of people who haven't been sued by us? Without our wonderful DRM the world would be chaos, madness, goddamn it, we're talking Communism here!!
EFF: 75 Fucking years, does that mean anything to you? Happy Birthday is copyrighted for god's sake, I'm gonna have to pay Time Warner a million bucks if I sing it for you right now cause we're putting this all into a Michael Moore film.
From what I can tell, the labels were taking the approach they always do; go away and leave us your users and your brand and we won't flood you with discovery motions. Looks like Weiss may have been willing to do that except wanting, I don't know, maybe a job there for him and a few insiders? Then some new, meaner lawyers came in; lawyers who realized that there was a lot more money to be made if this went to trial.
Since RIAA is desperate, they were able to be persuaded to do an end run and go for a decision. But, what a gamble! If they lose, there will be no stopping the P2P's. The word will spread like wildfire and P2P traffic will increase exponentially, not just for music, for film too. It would eviscerate both industries. The labels are hoping this is exactly how the court will see it and will find some next step on liability.
If there's no smoking gun, some memo or email talking about what their users are doing, how will the court find liability? From the software itself? Well, Sony said you can't make that kind of jump. Then the Supreme Court said you can't find protection there if it looks like you are trying to contribute to infringement. But, what if you're not? Then you're back at square one, no liability. The Supreme Court never said you could use the system itself to infer liability, just that you couldn't find shelter there.
So, EFF and everybody and their brother are going to jump into this fray, bigtime. StreamCast is already $4M in the hole and will probably need help. Now I really do think we'll end up with a big bang when all these players start showing up to court. This is where the media usually jumps in, especially if there's a jury. So, stay tuned.
I mean, really, without the central servers and incriminating Sean Parker memos, Napster probably could have found the protection it needed under Sony. I wonder whether they will be able to get a jury trial for this. I don't know why Wilson would do it, unless he's very sympathetic. God, would I love to see RIAA in front of a jury. I'd love to do a documentary on this; the drama.
RIAA: But judge, how can we find a jury of people who haven't been sued by us? Without our wonderful DRM the world would be chaos, madness, goddamn it, we're talking Communism here!!
EFF: 75 Fucking years, does that mean anything to you? Happy Birthday is copyrighted for god's sake, I'm gonna have to pay Time Warner a million bucks if I sing it for you right now cause we're putting this all into a Michael Moore film.
From what I can tell, the labels were taking the approach they always do; go away and leave us your users and your brand and we won't flood you with discovery motions. Looks like Weiss may have been willing to do that except wanting, I don't know, maybe a job there for him and a few insiders? Then some new, meaner lawyers came in; lawyers who realized that there was a lot more money to be made if this went to trial.
Since RIAA is desperate, they were able to be persuaded to do an end run and go for a decision. But, what a gamble! If they lose, there will be no stopping the P2P's. The word will spread like wildfire and P2P traffic will increase exponentially, not just for music, for film too. It would eviscerate both industries. The labels are hoping this is exactly how the court will see it and will find some next step on liability.
If there's no smoking gun, some memo or email talking about what their users are doing, how will the court find liability? From the software itself? Well, Sony said you can't make that kind of jump. Then the Supreme Court said you can't find protection there if it looks like you are trying to contribute to infringement. But, what if you're not? Then you're back at square one, no liability. The Supreme Court never said you could use the system itself to infer liability, just that you couldn't find shelter there.
So, EFF and everybody and their brother are going to jump into this fray, bigtime. StreamCast is already $4M in the hole and will probably need help. Now I really do think we'll end up with a big bang when all these players start showing up to court. This is where the media usually jumps in, especially if there's a jury. So, stay tuned.
posted by Intervision at 7:17 PM
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