Hollywood lines up support for net song-swap case

WASHINGTON - The entertainment industry has rounded up dozens of allies to persuade the US Supreme Court to hold internet file-trading services responsible when users copy songs and movies without permission.

The US government, 40 states and territories, and outside groups from the National Football League to the Christian Coalition of America asked the Supreme Court on Monday to hold services like Grokster and Morpheus accountable for the millions of copyrighted files traded over their networks.

Lower courts have ruled that Grokster, Morpheus and other "peer to peer" services, known as P2P networks, cannot be held liable because, like a videocassette recorder, they make copyright violations possible but can be used for legitimate purposes as well.

In legal briefs released on Tuesday, entertainment-industry supporters said the services profit from their users' desire to get music and movies for free and thus should be held liable so they can be sued for copyright infringement.

"Respondents have built their particular P2P networks around the 'draw' of massive copyright infringement," said a brief prepared by the Justice Department, the Copyright Office and the Patent and Trademark Office.

Other heavyweights in the entertainment industry's corner include Theodore Olson, who until July represented the government in Supreme Court cases.

Entertainment-industry officials at a Tuesday press conference said they were not concerned about a ruling against them by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals because other courts have held the file-trading services Aimster and Napster liable for copyright infringement.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the case in March, with a ruling due by June.

The head of a peer-to-peer trade group that includes Grokster and Morpheus said the entertainment industry's stance could discourage innovation.

Just as pornography loomed large in the early days of the internet, copyright infringement is now playing a disproportionately large role because peer-to-peer technology has yet to mature, said Adam Eisgrau, executive director of the P2P United trade group.

"If the standard for a technology in its relative infancy is whether at that instant it is used more for ill than for good, then we will almost never foster the development of breakthrough technologies," Eisgrau said.

Grokster and Morpheus don't have to file their legal arguments until February 28.

- REUTERS