Supreme Court Judgement On Peer-to-Peer Networks Has Implications Across the Globe

The US Supreme Court gave its judgement on a critical question of contributory and vicarious (or secondary) copyright infringement at the end of June 2005. It was decided that the makers of software and the providers of a network, both of which were widely used for copying copyright material, were potentially liable for contributory and vicarious infringement. This judgement may well affect the way that courts across the world decide issues of secondary infringement in the online environment.

The Supreme Court reviewed its earlier landmark decision, known as the Betamax case, and applied it to the Grokster peer-to-peer network and its associated software. This software allowed users to download copyright material (particularly songs and movies) from other network users.