June 27, 2005
The entertainment industry can claim a victory today with a unanimous Supreme Court ruling against file sharing services.
From now on services like WinMX and Streamcast Networks no longer have a free pass on bad behavior. All file sharing services will now be held liable if they intend for their customers to swap songs and movies illegally.
"The court is telling people if your purpose is to facilitate infringement then it doesn't really matter as much exactly whether or not the software can be used for other things, we're going to get you on the intent," says Thomas Nachbar, an Associate Professor of Law at UVA.
Critics of the ruling say it may scare technology developers away from new products.
