Court to Hear Landmark P2P Case
A federal appeals court is poised to hear arguments in a landmark case that could decide the future of peer-to-peer services, and may affect whether technology companies can be held liable for their customers' behavior.
On Tuesday, lawyers for the entertainment industry will face off against attorneys for peer-to-peer operators Grokster and StreamCast Networks in front of a three-judge panel from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena, California. The plaintiffs, including more than 20 movie studios, music labels represented by the Recording Industry Association of America, and song writers and publishers from the National Music Publishers' Association, hope to convince the court that the peer-to-peer services should be liable for copyright infringement occurring on their networks.
