The 9th Circuit court handed down its opinion today on the RIAA vs. Napster case. Sounds like a loss for Napster, although they get to keep operating for the time being. Probably it's hard to say how this will actually play out. The court said that the previous ruling (which would have just shut Napster down completely,) was "overbroad", but they also said that Napster "knowingly encourages and assists its users to infringe the record companies' copyrights." (Ouch.) And that some sort of modified (not just outright shutdown?) injunction is "not only warranted but required." I think we might be back to square one where this ruling will create a new injunction that basically allows Napster to keep running as long as they don't allow any copyrighted material that they are aware of to be traded. The problem, again, is that there is no way for Napster (presently configured) to be aware of all the material flowing through the system. In any case, they're not shutting down today, and the RIAA can claim a theoretical victory. A little something for everyone.
|
- jim 2-12-2001 7:15 pm