There was another set back for the Recording Industry Association of America and the movie studio's attempts to outlaw P2P networks yesterday as a US Court rejected the notion that technology firms who make the networks are liable for the copyright piracy committed on them.
The court case followed legal action against the likes of Grokster and Kazaa in which the entertainment firms claimed the P2P network's owners should pay for the $7.5 billion they reckon illegal file sharing on the internet has cost them.
Yesterday was the latest of a number of court decisions which have gone against the labels and studios in their fight against online file sharing. After a long period when the courts seemed to side with the copyright owners - a period during which court decisions basically bankrupted Napster - increasingly judges seem willing to allow technology companies to sidestep responsibility for consumers' illegal file sharing using their software.
The music and film industry bodies are now likely to lobby both the Supreme Court and the US Senate - the latter in a bid to get the law changed on file sharing technology. Although many in Senate sympathise with the copyright owners, the technology firms also have strong lobbyists in action there