High court to hear music file-sharing dispute The Supreme Court has decided to consider if online file-sharing services Grokster and StreamCast Networks may be held responsible for their customers' online swapping of copyrighted songs and movies. Justices will review a lower ruling in favor of the peer-to-peer services, which came as a blow to recording companies and movie studios. Arguments are expected in the spring, with a ruling by July. The appeal by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and other entertainment companies said that the file sharing is "inflicting catastrophic, multibillion dollar harm on petitioners that cannot be redressed through lawsuits against the millions of direct infringers using those services." Grokster and StreamCast say once the software has been downloaded by users, they have no involvement in, nor ability to control how it is used. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled in August that file-sharing services were no t responsible because they don't have central servers pointing users to copyright material. The court said the firms simply provide software that lets individual users share information over the Internet, regardless of whether that shared information is copyrighted.
