File-sharing case appealed to Supreme Court

Studios seek to reverse rulings not in their favor

MSN Tech and Gadgets

Tech Holiday Gift Guide

This holiday season, let the games begin!
Spending time with the whole family this holiday? Here's how to survive: Drink eggnog. Play video games. Check your ego at the door.

Best games for kids over 10

Gifts for the hardcore techies

Oddball gifts for techies

Real Women’s Guide to Technology

Getting the most from your HDTV

An MSN special that focuses on consumer technologies that can benefit women.

Pick the perfect mobile phone companion

Why smartphones are so smart

Tech and gadgets videos

'Assassin's Creed 2' a big step forward
Sharpen your hidden blade and get ready to stab some people in the back. It’s time for Assassin’s Creed 2. Msnbc.com reviewer Robert Gonsalves takes a look at the game.

Benefits lost over Facebook pics

Are you ready for the 'Dragon Age'?

On-the-go gadgets to make travel easier

Tony Hawk’s back for a ‘Ride’

Video

Tech Watch
The latest in technology and entertainment news.

Auto Tech

6 high-tech boosts for the auto industry

A better economy may lure buyers, but these trends could seal the deal.

Go to Auto Tech

updated 6:25 p.m. ET Oct. 8, 2004

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court was asked Friday to hold two Internet file-sharing services responsible for their customers' online swapping of copyrighted songs and movies.

An appeals court sided with Grokster Ltd. and StreamCast Networks Inc. in the big-dollar fight over file-sharing.

Lawyers for movie studios and music labels told justices in an appeal that Grokster and StreamCast enable millions of people a day to copy and share their products without permission.

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

The two companies are "inflicting catastrophic, multibillion-dollar harm on (the movie and record businesses) that cannot be redressed through lawsuits against the millions of direct infringers using those services," Washington attorney Donald Verrilli wrote in the filing.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco had said that unlike Napster, Grokster and StreamCast don't have servers directing users to copyright material. The firms' software lets users trade information over the Internet, and the companies do not know whether that information is copyrighted, the court found.

File-sharing software wins major victory

Attorneys for Grokster and StreamCast have maintained they should not be liable for contributing to copyright infringement, based on illicit actions by their users.