Grokster, be gone!
The popular file sharing service Grokster was shut down yesterday, agreeing to fork over $50 million in a landmark piracy case settlement.
Grokster was a popular p2p (peer-to-peer) file sharing service, where users could download music and movies from other users, and at the same time offer their own goods to be downloaded by other users.
Grokster claimed that only a small percentage of its users were trading copyrighted material, something that Justice David H. Souter rejected.
“While there is doubtless some demand for free Shakespeare, the evidence shows that substantive volume is a function of free access to copyrighted work,” he wrote. “Users seeking top 40 songs, for example, or the latest release by Modest Mouse, are certain to be far more numerous than those seeking a free ‘Decameron,’ and Grokster and StreamCast translated that demand into dollars.”
Looks like Grokster is going to pull a Napster though; that is re-emerge with a legal for-pay music service, “Grokster 3G“.