Why did the supreme court rule against Grokster?
The US supreme court was looking at whether Grokster should be liable for the actions of its users. Because the judges found Grokster had actively promoted illegal use of its networks – basing its business plan on it, in essence – it was deemed to have encouraged people to break the law. This does not mean that Grokster will definitely be sued for infringements by users, but it is highly likely. Why aren’t all file sharing programmes illegal, then? It remains to be seen whether other file sharing networks will be forced into the same legal position as Grokster. Not all of them promoted infringements of copyright, but now that precedent has been set, many could find themselves in the same position as Grokster. Kazaa, a popular network based in Australia, is currently being sued by that country’s record industry on a very similar basis. Most networks are likely to have to change their position or face legal action somewhere down the line. Some networks – those that did not promote themse
