Hollywood studios and record companies on Friday asked the United States Supreme Court to overturn a controversial series of recent court decisions that have kept file-swapping software legal.
The decisions have been among the biggest setbacks for the entertainment industry in the past several years, as they have tried to quell the rampant exchange of copyrighted materials over peer-to-peer networks such as Kazaa and Morpheus. In a joint petition to the Supreme Court, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) said that letting the lower court rulings stand would badly undermine the value of copyrighted work.
"This is one of the most important copyright cases ever to reach this court," the groups said in papers filed with the court. "Resolution of the question presented here will largely determine the value, indeed the very significance, of copyright in the digital era." The ongoing case has helped define the limits of what is legal for software companies, as the entertainment companies have tried to hold peer-to-peer developers responsible for the widespread copyright infringement of people using their products.
News source: C|Net News.com
The decisions have been among the biggest setbacks for the entertainment industry in the past several years, as they have tried to quell the rampant exchange of copyrighted materials over peer-to-peer networks such as Kazaa and Morpheus. In a joint petition to the Supreme Court, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) said that letting the lower court rulings stand would badly undermine the value of copyrighted work.
"This is one of the most important copyright cases ever to reach this court," the groups said in papers filed with the court. "Resolution of the question presented here will largely determine the value, indeed the very significance, of copyright in the digital era." The ongoing case has helped define the limits of what is legal for software companies, as the entertainment companies have tried to hold peer-to-peer developers responsible for the widespread copyright infringement of people using their products.
News source: C|Net News.com
Cont...
At present the new venture is being called "Exclaim," but this is apparently only a temporary name and is likely to be replaced before the firm starts trading. Cousens is joined in the new venture by Europlay Capital Advisers, the Los Angeles based firm which is headed by industry veterans Sean Brennan and Mark Dyne and has advised on a number of major industry deals in recent years.
It's expected that along with the Cheltenham and Manchester studios - accounting for some 160 employees - "Exclaim" will also take possession of several of Acclaim's products in development, including Interview with a Made Man and Heist.
why don't you see individual artists sueing music swappers?
Edit: Meant to be a separate reply.
RIAA = Greed. If they want to stem the tide of music sharing, then lower thier overpriced damn albums. P2P, though used as tools to share the music, cant be held accountible. They are just tools, a harmless program. Could just as easibly be used to share family photos, or personal projects. Its not the program thats doing this. Just beacsue they now cant trace sharers and sue them. They are getting desperate. IF the supreme court rules in favor, it'll just go underground.
No one should be able to have juristion over cyberspace. Its not any land.. or any one country. Its the global network.. A world thing. Governed within itself.. by itself, by each and everyone one of us. We set the rules.. we follow them, Hackers and crackers and pirates, and forum hounds, artists, and poets, lovers and friends, young and old.. we wear the term geek with pride.. This is our world. Our rules apply here, not some facist music group that can try to enforce thier will. We will always succeed.. No matter the obsticles.
So they want P2P developers to ensure their services aren't used illegally.
I wonder how that will be possible?
It would be hilarious if P2P software had to support some sort of "copyright" bit.
(which would in practice be as respected as the copyright flag on CD's by Nero, and so on)
I wouldn't be surpirsed if they eventually end up doing their own file-sharing thing so they can track use and be the one to provide ads for concerts, etc.
They are not going to be getting profits from still-overpriced CD sales, and need to realize that the way they once viewed radio has now shifted to a different medium with more individual control. They can stand on the outside and whine, or get involved.
Not that there's much at all out there worth buying/listening to these days anyway. I can already tell you there's maybe one CD or two coming I care about (U2's Vertigo, for example), and I'll buy it on release, overpriced or not. Otherwise? Eh....
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