Wednesday, June 29, 2005
GROKSTER: Legal fire-sharing trade group urges new business models
FULL STATEMENT: http://press.namct.com/content/view/2022/9/
Contact: Kelly Larabee DCIA 602-258-1416
DCIA Addresses Supreme Court Decision in MGM v. Grokster Case
Tuesday, 28 June 2005
ARLINGTON, VA, (NAMC) - The Distributed Computing Industry Association
(www.dcia.info), which focuses on peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing and last
week celebrated the milestone of recruiting fifty (50) Members in less than
two years, responded to today's US Supreme Court ruling in the MGM v.
Grokster case by committing to redouble its efforts to foster the
industry's commercial development.
"The DCIA welcomes the Courtÿÿs refusal to rework the Betamax decision, and
is optimistic that the grounds for secondary liability that it announced
today will prove to be fair and workable. As the case works it way back
through the lower courts, we anticipate clarification of the rules of
engagement between content providers and technology suppliers in the digital
realm generally, and with respect to peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing in
particular. We are confident that todayÿÿs decision in the MGM v. Grokster
case will ultimately lead to the continued expansion of our industry,ÿÿ said
DCIA CEO Marty Lafferty in making the announcement.
"We urge all affected parties to focus now on deploying new business models
for content distribution that are non-infringing and expand the marketplace
for digital content, and not to pursue legislative intervention, which would
only be counter-productive. The private sector, with added clarity that will
result from such lower court outcomes, should manage the process from
here,ÿÿ he added.
"This ruling provides impetus for the P2P distribution channel to grow and
flourish. P2P digital rights management (DRM) technologies and micro-payment
services have been proven with computer games, software, and independent
music and films. Major labels and studios can avail themselves of these
tools to develop marketplace solutions ÿÿ starting today.ÿÿ
"We hope the Courtÿÿs decision will lead to a shift away from conflict and
toward commerce, and we encourage everyone to come to the table and develop
new business partnerships. The MPAA and RIAA and their powerful members
control 90% of popular entertainment content distribution and can now move
forward to license responsible P2P companies using this highly efficient and
extremely popular channel for the distribution of their copyrighted works to
create new markets and revenue opportunities. P2P file-sharing technologies
are part of the larger movement to an increasingly distributed computing
environment."
Contact: Kelly Larabee DCIA 602-258-1416
