Tech industry and others unite against music, film industry

WASHINGTON: A coalition of tech firms, consumer advocates and others rallied their forces last Tuesday ahead of a Supreme Court hearing over the legality of music-swapping services, seen as a key test of copyright infringement in the digital age.

The groups filed briefs urging the highest US court to steer clear of any effort to shut down so-called peer-to-peer (P2P) networks Grokster and StreamCast, the targets of the music industry and Hollywood.

The court has scheduled a March 29 hearing, and will likely rule in the coming months whether such file-swapping services can be held liable if their networks are used for illegal digital copies.

The high-profile case, known as MGM vs. Grokster, pits the powerful interests of the technology and entertainment industries against each other.

Justices will re-examine a 1984 Supreme Court ruling, known as the Betamax case, that originally paved the way for the legal use of the videocassette recorder.

Some 28 Hollywood studios and music companies that sued file-swapping services Grokster and Morpheus filed their legal arguments last month.

But critics of the suit, which include such diverse groups such as American Conservative Union, American Civil Liberties Union, Consumers Union and the Consumer Electronics Association, say it is dangerous to shut down a new technology that may be used for both legal and illegal purposes.

Fred von Lohmann, attorney for the Internet free-speech Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the entertainment industry "has a long history of crying wolf," but noted that new technologies such as the videocassette recorder "has enriched the industry."

Although Hollywood argued two decades ago that videocassette recorders would mark the death of movies, the lawyer said "this now accounts for three times the revenues of box office receipts ... there is no reason to think this technology will be any different."

Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Association, said at a joint news conference that if Hollywood has its way it would have a chilling effect on new technology.

"The Betamax principle is directly responsible for the explosion of technology and innovation that has defined our society over the last 20 years," he said.

"Now copyright holders urge the court to overturn Betamax and adopt a variety of unworkable and ill-considered theories of secondary liability. If they are successful, they will extend copyright monopoly to include control over technology; impose unsustainable obligations to restrict designs; chill the development of new technologies; and slow the progress of science and the useful arts."

Mark Cooper of Consumers Union said the same complaints have been heard throughout history, from the invention of the printing press.

"Since the first laws on copyright, Anglo-American jurisprudence has refused to punish innovators of technology," Cooper said. "Each technological change has created a piracy panic ... the printing press, player piano, the telegraph, CD burners."

The recording and motion picture industries argue that holding the firms responsible is needed to crack down on rampant piracy over the Internet.

Dean Garfield, the Motion Picture Association of America's director of legal affairs, said the studios are not out to erase the protections afforded by the Betamax decision.

But the MPAA and the Recording Industry of America argued that "Grokster's and StreamCast's services are the polar opposite of the Betamax," because they are designed "for services ... principally used for infringement."

Two federal courts have already ruled that the P2P networks are not liable for copyright violations by users.

Kazaa, an Australian-owned file-swapping network, is a defendant as well but its case is being heard separately. -- AFP