Supreme Court Sets Date For Oral Arguments In P2P Case

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, New York

25 January 2005

According to reports, the US Supreme Court has set March 29 as the date for hearing oral arguments on whether firms which provide peer-to-peer file sharing software should be held liable for copyright infringing activities undertaken by their customers.

Supporting a ruling delivered by a lower court in April 2003, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Los Angeles last August announced that the file-sharing firms cannot be held responsible for the use to which their services are put, so long as they are not directly able to stop the copyright infringing acts in question.

"The (record labels and film industry) urge a re-examination in the law in the light of what they believe to be the proper public policy. Doubtless taking that step would satisfy the copyright owners' immediate economic aims. However, it would also alter general copyright law in profound ways with unknown consequences outside the present context," the court explained in its verdict.

However, the Recording Industry Association of America, in conjunction with the Motion Picture Association of America filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to examine the lower court's verdict.

An opinion on the case is expected by the end of July.

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