The video game industry trade body, the Entertainment Software Association, has made a statement in favor of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling against Grokster in the case of
MGM v. Grokster. The Court ruled that developers of file-sharing technology such as Grokster, if acting with the intent to violate copyright, are liable for third-party copyright violations using their technology. Having established a standard for liability, the decision will send the Grokster case back to the lower courts to be re-tried for evidence of the developers' intent.
"We are heartened by the Supreme Court’s resounding decision," said ESA President Doug Lowenstein, "and are hopeful that it will put an end to the efforts of those who for the last several years have advanced tortured and flawed legal rationales to legitimize good old fashioned copyright theft. The Supreme Court made clear that when people and companies actively and knowingly induce massive copyright infringement on the Internet, they are on the wrong side of the law."
Video games as well as movies were available on Grokster, with PC and Xbox titles being particularly popular due to the relative ease in playing illicit copies for those platforms. "As perhaps the most proactive of any content industry in its embrace of the Internet as a tool for distributing our products," said Lowenstein, "we understand that the creative and technological innovation we have fostered can only thrive in an environment where copyright laws are strong. The Court’s decision creates such an environment.”
