According to a Reuters report, former leading P2P network Grokster may be about to be acquired by Mashboxx, the company set up by a former Grokster boss Wayne Rosso, who are trying to develop a legitimate P2P model.
As we may have mentioned once before, Grokster captured the headlines earlier this year after its dramatic defeat in the US Supreme Court which transformed the entertainment industry's hopes of ending commercial P2P operations through the courts using existing copyright legislation. In that ruling Grokster was found guilty of copyright violation by allowing its customers to illegally share copyrighted music using its software. Whilst that finding will have ramifications on all P2P networks, it was particularly damaging for Grokster.
So much so, it is unlikely any money will change hands in Mashboxx's acquisition of Grokster, rather its shareholders will get a cut of future Mashboxx profits, should there ever be any. Rosso is presumably keen to access Grokster's subscriber base through the deal, in the hope his company will be able to turn existing P2P users on to a legit P2P service.