Today, there are 240 million users trading on
legal file-sharing networks. Sharing is not
illegal as long as you obey all relevant
copyright laws. Using P2P programs to distribute
copy righted music, movies and games without
permission is illegal. Click
here for important information from the US
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about the risk
and use of P2P software.
Original works of authorship, including
literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and
certain intellectual compositions are protected
by copyright law. If a person publicly performs,
reproduces, distributes copies, or displays
works without consent of the copyright owner
could be in violation of the law. Go to
http://www.copyright.gov/and learn more
about U.S. copyright law.
Click here for important information from
the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about the
risk and use of P2P software.
See News.com Article:
Federal Judge Rules: File-swapping tools are
legal
How can I Stay legal and avoid breaking the law.
Stay legal and avoid breaking the law. Quick
steps to stay legal:
-
Make sure there are no
potentially infringing files in your shared
folders - meaning only files that are in the
public domain, for which you have permission
to share or are available under pro-sharing
licenses.
-
Remove potentially
misleading files names that might be
confused with the name of an RIAA artist or
song (e.g. "Usher" or "Madonna") from your
shared folder.
-
Disable the
"sharing" or "uploading" features on your
search program to prevent other users on the
network from getting copies of files on your
computer. Music companies are focused on
finding people who share thousands of files
on their computers with the rest of the
community. If you don't share - you reduce
the risk.
File sharing has been a hot topic in several
countries around the world. Below are samples of
court decisions from the United States of
America, Canada, and the Netherlands.
USA Court Decision
Decentralized File-sharing Tools Ruled
Legal
Streamcast and Grokster have won a major court
decision in Los Angeles, shifting the tides of
the on-line P2P legal war. Federal court Judge
Stephen Wilson has dismissed much of the
studios' claims in their lawsuits against them,
stating that Morpheus and Grokster were not
liable for copyright infringements that took
place using their software.
See News.com Article:
Federal Judge Rules: File-swapping tools are
legal
The ruling stated loud and clear that innovating
decentralized peer-to-peer Gnutella-like
software is perfectly legal, and shouldn't be
deemed illegal in the courts. The courts
compared the technology with the innovation of
the original Sony videocassette recorder (VCR).
Fred von Lohmann of the Electronic Frontier
Foundation (EFF) stated the case is far from
over, but that the case sends a "strong message
to the technology community that the court
understands the risk to innovation" the case
could represent
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
and Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA)
offered no comment, but are of course issuing an
appeal to the ruling already. Published By Mike
Darrah - April 25, 2003
Canadian Court Decision
Canada's Federal Court has ruled against a
motion which would have allowed the music
industry to begin suing individuals who make
music available on-line. He said that
downloading a song or making files available in
shared directories does not constitute copyright
infringement under the current Canadian law.
"Justice Konrad von Finckenstein ruled Wednesday
that the Canadian Recording Industry Association
did not prove there was copyright infringement
by 29 so-called music uploaders. Without the
names, CRIA can't begin filing lawsuits against
the alleged high-volume music traders,
identified only as John and Jane Does. It also
reaffirms what the Copyright Board of Canada has
already ruled -- downloading music in this
country is not illegal. Von Finckenstein said
that downloading a song or making files
available in shared directories, like those on
Kazaa, does not constitute copyright
infringement under the current Canadian law. "No
evidence was presented that the alleged
infringers either distributed or authorized the
reproduction of sound recordings," he wrote in
his 28-page ruling. "They merely placed personal
copies into their shared directories which were
accessible by other computer users via a P2P
service."
With all of the usual cavets about appeals, this
decision makes it practically impossible to
prosecute file sharers in Canada. von
Finkenstein has gone well beyond the idea that
downloading is legal in Canada. By expressly
mentioning "merely placing personal copies into
their shared directories" does not constitute
distribution he has blown a huge hole in the
arguments which swirled around the whole
question of the legality of uploading in Canada.
(Published April 1, 2004
http://grep.law.harvard.edu/article.pl?sid=04/04/01/0411227&mode=thread)
European Court Decision
The Supreme Court of the Netherlands has thrown
out an appeal by music industry lobbyists who
wanted the popular Kazaa file-sharing software
to be ruled illegal.
The victory for Kazaa, which follows similar US
rulings in favor of peer-to-peer (P2P) software
firms Grokster and Morpheus, is a huge blow to
the music industry. It has fought a long battle
to close down file-sharing networks and
criminalize the software that makes file
swapping illegal.
The Dutch decision means that the developers of
the software cannot be held responsible for how
individuals use it.
(Dinah Greek, vnunet.com
19 Dec 2003,
http://www.pcw.co.uk/news/1151673)
