A new legal strategy for copyright owners on the internet: MGM v. Grokster
Robert L. Cherry, John P. Geary · International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing · 2006
The paper is an in-depth analysis and discussion of the legal actions and court cases concerning peer-to-peer file sharing software on the internet. The US District Court, US Circuit Court of Appeals and US Supreme Court cases analysed involve actions by major movie studios, record companies and song publishers against two major suppliers of the software, Grokster and StreamCast. Fifty million copies of these companies' free software is in use by internet subscribers who use the software to illegally download copyrighted materials. The US Supreme Court decision discussed ultimately holds Grokster and StreamCast liable for inducing these illegal downloads. The decision will have far reaching effects on future software development and marketing of movies and music on the internet.