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Washington (pte025/28.06.2005/12:34) - Widely seen as one of the most important copyright cases in years, the case brought by 28 film and music makers against Streamcast Networks http://www.streamcastnetworks.com , software creators of Grokster and Morpheus, found unanimously in favour of the plaintiffs.
The case began in October 2001 when the 28 media companies filed a complaint saying that Streamcast was profiting from piracy - by creating file-sharing software to enable users to download songs and movies from the Internet for free.
Andrew Lack, chief executive of Sony BMG, said his company would pursue those who failed to comply with the law. "The court made it very clear that we can go after damages and that we can chase them out," he said in a statement.
"We will do that if necessary, but my hope is that we will find new bridges to legitimise a lot of services that formerly were confused about what was right and wrong, legal and illegal."
In the ruling Justice David Souter wrote: "The question is under what circumstances the distributor of a product capable of both lawful and unlawful use is liable for acts of copyright infringement by third parties using the product."
He added: "We hold that one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright ... is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties."
This means that makers of technology are responsible for those who use their software and break the law.
President of the Motion Picture Association of America, Dan Glickman, said: "Today's unanimous ruling is an historic victory for intellectual property in the digital age, and is good news for consumers, artists, innovation and lawful Internet businesses."
The decision may also incite a re-writing of copyright laws by the US Congress.
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