High Court Rejects Recording Industry's P2P Appeal

The U.S. Supreme Court today chose not to hear an appeal from the recording and film industries regarding file sharing.

The Recording Industry Association of America had invoked copyright law in an attempt to force ISPs such as Verizon to hand over the names of customers who might be swapping protected songs.

Verizon argued that the RIAA must file a formal lawsuit to get customer names. A year ago a federal appeals court sided with Verizon, insisting that the RIAA must file anonymous "John Doe" lawsuits to get customer names.

Today's high court move lets that ruling stand. The justices offered no comment on the case.

Filtering the Web?

The RIAA, joined by the Motion Picture Association of America, had contended that this was unlike previous cases, in which the courts have held that makers of devices and technologies such as VCRs and P2P applications cannot be held liable for copyright infringement. Today's P2P operators, the industry groups say, are capable of preventing copyright violations.

Wayne Rosso, former CEO of Optisoft, the maker of Blubster P2P software, said holding P2P operators liable for copyright violations is ridiculous. He told TechNewsWorld that this technology is no different from others that are used to illegally copy or trade content, including the Internet.

"The Internet in and of itself is based on peer-to-peer technology, and copyright infringement goes on all day on the Web," Rosso said. "What should we do -- filter the Internet?"

File Traders Targeted

Since losing consecutive court rulings to P2P operators, the RIAA and MPAA have turned toward education and enforcement. For the RIAA, that copyright enforcement has meant finding alleged violators online using tracking technologies.

Since initiating copyright infringement suits a year ago against individual file traders accused of uploading copyrighted songs to the Internet, the RIAA has filed more than 3,400 suits, RIAA spokesperson Jonathan Lamy told TechNewsWorld.

The RIAA has settled about 600 of those cases, pursuing civil penalties into the thousands of dollars for others. Other content owner industry groups around the world have also sued individuals, as many as 6,000 according to some estimates.

Not Concerned At All

Industry analysts indicate that the RIAA lawsuits have had an effect on file traders. Some of the worst violators have cut down their trading, while many others have moved to e-mail, instant messaging or other methods of online exchange.

Rosso, who plans to start a new P2P company expected to launch soon, said the industry was not concerned over the Supreme Court appeal, which had yet to be acted on by the high court when he spoke.

"I haven't got the slightest bit of concern," Rosso said earlier today. "I could care less. I would refer to this appeal as a Hail Mary pass."

For Good Use

Rosso also argued with the RIAA and MPAA contention that unlike VCR or television makers, the P2P software makers and network operators should be held accountable because they could use technology to discourage infringement.

"That's not the issue," he said. "That has nothing to do with the issue. This is a technology that has substantial, non-infringing uses."

As an example, Rosso said the U.S. government's DARPA project was actually an application of P2P technology. P2P lawyers have also pointed to legitimate business use of P2P technologies, and the courts have found in their favor.

John Doe Lives

Despite today's adverse ruling, the RIAA indicated it would continue its efforts to scare individuals away from P2P use by continuing the legal campaign.

"Today's decision will not deter our ongoing anti-piracy efforts," said a statement from RIAA senior vice president of legal affairs Stanley Pierre-Louis. "The 'John Doe' litigation process we have successfully utilized this year continues to be an effective legal tool."