[opendtv] Oral Arguments in Grokster & Ch. 4, 5 of "Free Culture"

Oral Arguments in Grokster & Ch. 4, 5 of "Free Culture"
Monday, August 23 2004 @ 03:20 AM EDT

EFF has put up the oral arguments in Grokster[MP3] [Ogg], so you can 
hear the music industry lawyers try to persuade an unpersuadable 
court that P2P users are all or at least 90% thieves and that P2P 
systems like Grokster should be shut down like Napster was.

The following exchange will give you a feel for the event. One 
attorney argues to the court that "the Internet is not a license to 
steal," and that "there's nothing different from what they're doing 
from organizing and instructing the participants in a trafficking 
network that is trading in counterfeit materials".

One of the judges interrupts him and says: "Let me say what your 
problem is. You can use these harsh terms, but you are dealing with 
something new. And the question is, Does the statutory monopoly that 
Congress has given you reach out to that something new, and that's a 
very debatable question. You don't solve it by calling it theft. You 
have to show why this court should extend a statutory monopoly to 
cover the new thing. That's your problem. So address that, if you 
would, rather than use abusive language." You don't want to miss 
listening to the attorney's reaction to that rebuke.

...

http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20040823002045984

 
 
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