“Inducement” argument good for P2P

In the Grokster case, a lot of the entertainment industry’s argument seems to hinge on the idea that the companies making P2P software are profiting from piracy — that they encourage (or “induce”) lawbreakers in order to make money.

An article on InternetNews.com suggested that if the Court makes a ruling on the Grokster case and ends it back to trial with a clearer definition of infringement, “it will likely be on the issue of ‘active inducement.’ Under current copyright law, companies can be held liable for secondary copyright infringement if they actively encourage users to infringe.”

That would, in fact, be very good news for file-sharing. That’s because many of the programs used for P2P are in fact open-source. They are free — no cost, no ads, nothing.

In other words, groups such as the folks who make Gnucleus don’t make any money. There’s no way to argue they profit from distributing this software.

In fact, the opposite is more accurate. Far from inducing anyone to do anything, they are responding to the call of the market. People want software that does what Gnucleus does.

So even if Grokster and Streamcast and all their commercial-ish kin go out of business, there will still be open-source clients keeping P2P alive and — judging by the quality of Gnucleus — well.