Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. v. Grokster Ltd.

This appeal presents the question of whether distributors of peer-to-peer file-sharing computer networking software may be held contributorily or vicariously liable for copyright infringements by users. Under the circumstances presented by this case, we conclude that the defendants are not liable for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement and affirm the district court’s partial grant of summary judgment.

I. Background

From the advent of the player piano, every new means of reproducing sound has struck a dissonant chord with musical copyright owners, often resulting in federal litigation. This appeal is the latest reprise of that recurring conflict, and one of a continuing series of lawsuits between the recording industry and distributors of file-sharing computer software.

The plaintiffs in the consolidated cases (“Copyright Owners”) are songwriters, music publishers, and motion picture studios who, by their own description, “own or control the vast majority of copyrighted motion pictures and sound recordings in the United States.” Defendants Grokster Ltd. and StreamCast Networks, Inc. (“Software Distributors”) are companies that freely distribute software that allows…