Look Who’s Fighting Grokster

Published 1/28/05

I get a kick out of how a small group of mulitmillionaire celebrities is lined up to ask the Supreme Court to rule against Grokster and Morpheus.

For those of you who don’t follow this, Grokster and Morpheus are file-sharing services — they allow Internet users to swap files. A lower court ruled that even though that can mean they’re swapping songs and movies illegally, the services themselves were not to blame.

It’s an affirmation of the Betamax decision, in which the Court ruled that because a VCR has substantial non-infringing applications, it was legal. (You can kill a guy with a hammer, but a hammer also has many other uses.)

But now you have, lessee, the Eagles, the Dixie Chicks, Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow, Stevie Nicks, Tom Jones and Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson,” according to the article, asking that the lower-court Grokster ruling be overturned. This would make file-sharing services illegal, and essentially overturn Betamax.

What I think is funny is that the people lining up against Grokster are all rich and successful — you don’t see many representatives of smaller groups there. That’s because file-sharing is a boon to them. It gets their music out there.

So a few of the already-wealthy are lining up to stop this horrible, world-ending technology… and get a little press for themselves in the meantime. How special.

The Fray

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