Major Hollywood studios, through their industry representative the Motion Picture Association of America, are suing more than 100 operators of computer servers that relay digitized movie files through on-line computer file-sharing networks, according to the Associated Press. The MPAA views the primary file-swapping services, eDonkey and BitTorrent as Napster-for-movies. The question is whether the argument will work.
As the AP article notes:
Mike Godwin, legal director for Washington-based Public Knowledge, a group that tracks copyright and technology policy, said the same legal arguments against Napster may not stick in this case.
“There may be a legal problem in that some torrent sites don’t really police what people use them for,” Godwin said. “In those cases, I think it’s hard to create traditional copyright infringement liability.”
Stay tuned.
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