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StreamCast CEO talks to p2pnet about Supreme Court ruling

28 June 2005 5:37 by James "Dela" Delahunty | 9 comments

Yesterday the Supreme Court ruled that P2P companies who promote the use of their product for piracy could be sued but the ruling confused most of the media and set the ruling as a complete victory over P2P by the entertainment industry. While the ruling is a bit of a blow to future technological innovation, StreamCast CEO Michael Weiss doesn�t appear too worried yet as he speaks to p2pnet about the decision.

p2pnet: On a scale of 1 to 10, how serious is this ruling from StreamCast's perspective?

Weiss: Any decision by the Supreme Court has to be given a 10.

p2pnet: Does it, then, spell the end of Morpheus?

Weiss: No! Today's decision to send the case back to the lower federal court on remand was expected by most parties. However, the media seems to have totally mischaracterized the decision as a loss for us and a win for the entertainment industry.

p2pnet: Just after the decision came down, StreamCast general counsel, Matthew Neco, said, "In every instance where some product might possibly be used for copyright infringement, the copyright holder can now sue and weigh down innovation with expensive, time and resource consuming discovery and trials."

Will the labels now try to simply crush companies such as yours by using their financial and legal weight to overwhelm them with lawsuits?

Weiss: Suing technology companies into submission has been the strategy of the entertainment industry for many, many years now. They thought they'd have an easy win over us, but instead they lost at the US District Federal Court. They then thought they'd have a slam-dunk against us in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. They lost again - unanimously. They hoped the Supreme Court would reverse the decision and shut us down. But that didn't happen either.

p2pnet: Are there other legal recourses open to you?

Weiss: We will have our day in court - actually many days in court - to prove we don't induce copyright infringement from our users. There could be the possibility where this case even ends up back at the Supreme Court one day in the future.

Check out the rest of the brief Q&A at p2pnet.

Source:
p2pnet

Permalink to this article

Supreme Court rules in favour of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in P2P case (27 June 2005)

StreamCast adds BitTorrent support to Morpheus 5.0 (23 June 2005)

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Discuss this article!
Mik3h (AfterDawn Addict) 28 June 2005 9:59
It will be interesting to see if the UK adapts to the new ruling. Sincerely hope not.. -Mike [ + quote]
Mr_Del (Senior Member) 28 June 2005 16:24
DELA you have got to post this news found here http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8386156/ .Great stuff. Unrelated to this story but the only way I know to reach you about it. Thanks -Del [ + quote]
Dela (Staff Member) 28 June 2005 23:14
Ye i read that yesterday Mr Del, altho its noit really what this site covers but maybe.... well see ;-) [ + quote]
Mr_Taz_UK (Senior Member) 29 June 2005 3:13
This is set to be a long hard battle. I only hope the outcome is that companies like MGM are told in no uncertain terms that they must stop trying to strong arm innovative companies into submission. It's about time they embraced new technology. The Sony ruling has to some degree protected P2P here, and with carefull marketing will continue to do so in the future. [ + quote]
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 29 June 2005 3:52
Like everyone has said this is just the begining of a long and intresting roaf for all parties involved. I personally love the technology. I find it too b extremley helpful. lets just watch this space.... as they say :) [ + quote]
bentsii (Newbie) 29 June 2005 23:02
IT GOING TO BE A LONG LONG FIGHT. BUT THE END IS KNOW. ALL OF THIS IS LIKE ANY TOOL THAT HAS TO BE USED FOR MANY APLICATION. E.G HAMMER TO WORK WHIT IT OR FOR HIT WHIT IT. [ + quote]
benjers (Inactive) 30 June 2005 13:04
Quote: bentsii Newbie 30. June 2005 @ 03:02 IT GOING TO BE A LONG LONG FIGHT. BUT THE END IS KNOW. ALL OF THIS IS LIKE ANY TOOL THAT HAS TO BE USED FOR MANY APLICATION. E.G HAMMER TO WORK WHIT IT OR FOR HIT WHIT IT. HUH??? WTF??? [ + quote]
Mr_Taz_UK (Senior Member) 30 June 2005 13:55
You're not alone there benjers, confused me too. Welcome - For New Users http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/183136 Please try a search before posting http://forums.afterdawn.com/search/ Join us live online here http://adbuddies.ccsau.com/chat/index.html [ + quote]
Mik3h (AfterDawn Addict) 1 July 2005 0:12
Yeh me too, I was gonna say sumthin but I decided not to :S -Mike Excellent Modding website, tutorials, guides, + MORE! http://webpages.charter.net/modchipzone/ [ + quote]