[Infowarrior] - US judge rules against Morpheus file-sharing

[Richard Forno]

US judge rules against Morpheus file-sharing
September 28, 2006, 20:15
http://www.sabcnews.com/sci_tech/internet/0,2172,135677,00.html

In a victory for the entertainment industry, a federal judge has ruled that
the Morpheus file-sharing software encourages millions of users to share
music, movies and other works without authorization.

US District Judge Stephen Wilson ruled on Wednesday that StreamCast
Networks, the distributor of Morpheus, had contributed to massive copyright
infringement because it had constructed a business model that relied on
massive copyright infringement and did not attempt to block the trading of
copyrighted materials.

The case, pitting Hollywood movie studios, record companies and music
publishers against StreamCast and similar firms, dated back to 2001. Last
year, the Supreme Court issued a landmark decision, ruling that some
technology firms could be held liable for distributing software used to
violate copyrights.

StreamCast, based in Woodland Hills, California, said it was considering an
appeal and maintained that it did not encourage users to infringe on
copyrighted works and never intended to do so. StreamCast was the only
file-sharing company that continued fighting after the Supreme Court ruling.
- Reuters