Court Rulings Fail To Slow File Sharing

Despite a series of court judgments against file traders, including a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year against Grokster, the number of individuals who illegally trade files online is up from this time a year ago, according to BigChampagne. The company said about 9.7 million people worldwide used file-trading services in May 2006, about 6.7 million of whom were U.S. users, compared to 8.6 million and 6.2 million in May 2005. When the Supreme Court ruled that developers of P2P services could be sued for the copyright violations committed by those using the services, many predicted the demise of file trading.

Grokster stopped distributing its software, and other companies said they would change their business models. File trading continues, however, and one company, eDonkey, has so far not followed through on its promise to start selling music legally. Mitch Bainwol, chairman of the Recording Industry Association of America, suggested that the legal action against file trading is working, saying that without the court rulings, file trading would be even more rampant.

Mercury News, 30 June 2006