MEDIA: Grokster shuts down

Tue Nov 8 04:29:30 UTC 2005

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-110705grokster_lat,0,4450717.story? 
coll=la-home-headlines

Grokster Ltd. today shut down its online file sharing service to settle
an entertainment industry lawsuit aimed at stopping illegal downloads of 
copyrighted music, movies and other programming.

The settlement was announced by the Recording Industry Association of America 
and comes four months after the Supreme Court ruled that online file-sharing 
services such as Grokster can be held liable for copyright violations by their 
users.

On its website, Grokster, which was the defendant in a lawsuit, notified 
visitors of the Supreme Court decision and plans to offer a legal service 
soon.

...The RIAA said the settlement, which prohibits Grokster from operating or 
distributing its file-sharing software, will be submitted to court today for 
approval.

"This settlement brings to a close an incredibly significant chapter in the 
story of digital music," said RIAA Chairman Mitch Bainwol in a statement.

...The battle over file sharing began in 1999, when the original Napster 
network made it simple for people to copy songs for free from each other's 
computers.

...After Napster's demise, millions of users flocked to a new generation of 
file-sharing programs distributed by Grokster, StreamCast and numerous other 
companies.

...To the major music companies and Hollywood studios, this was doubly 
offensive -- not only were the companies helping people copy songs and movies 
for free, they also were milking advertisers for access to a huge audience of 
infringers.

With Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios as the lead plaintiff, the major record 
labels, movie studios and music publishers sued StreamCast and Grokster for 
copyright infringement in October 2001.