The J Curve

Thursday, August 19, 2004

Morpheus beats the RIAA

A new development: Morpheus just unanimously won their 9th Circuit case. The entertainment industry lawyers were so confident that they would prevail in the case that they did not have a statement ready for this scenario.

The justices actually addressed Congress and urged them not to pass anti P2P legislation so quickly. They added:

“we live in a quicksilver technological environment with courts ill-suited to fix the flow of internet innovation… The introduction of new technology is always disruptive to old markets, and particularly to those copyright owners whose works are sold through well established distribution mechanisms. Yet, history has shown that time and market forces often provide equilibrium in balancing interests, whether the new technology be a player piano, a copier, a tape recorder, a video recorder, a personal computer, a karaoke machine, or an MP3 player. Thus, it is prudent for courts to exercise caution before restructuring liability theories for the purpose of addressing specific market abuses, despite their apparent present magnitude."

Bravo.

3 Comments:

  • A rare case in which Justice seems to remember the origins of the word "Legal" => "Legh" = "that which is laid down". To put everything at the same level. The way to prevent abuse from the higher spheres upon the lower ones.

    Bravisimo.

    Other not Bravo at all cases

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:02 PM  

  • thanks for the link.

    It's a small world. From the post, I learned that Mark Lemley helped defend the case. He was my partner in undergrad debate.

    By Blogger Steve Jurvetson, at 5:37 PM  

  • It was a good day for reason to prevail.
    Unfortunately for the p2p software providers however, mass business adoption still proves elusive - not due to corporate stubbornness but because of the considerable legal baggage/risk associated with doing so for both company and customer. To the enterprise, 'information just wants to be free, yo' has nothing to do with it. Brand integrity is too easily eroded by unchecked malice.
    For the revolution to truly arrive, the next generation of p2p will have to be trustworthy, adoptable by business, and flexible enough to keep pace with the convergence of media itself.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:11 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home