The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in MGM v. Grokster beginning March 25 in Washington, DC.
Entertainment companies first brought this lawsuit against the makers of the Morpheus, Grokster, and KaZaA software products in 2001, hoping to obtain a legal precedent that would hold all technology makers responsible for the infringements committed by the users of their products.
The companies lost in District Court, then lost again on appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, based on the Supreme Court's precedent decision in the 1984 Sony Betamax case, which determined that Sony was not liable for copyright violations by users of the Betamax VCR.
A final ruling is expected by the end of July 2005.
For more information, visit www.eff.org.
