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Posted By: davidcycleback

With file sharing, the key is whether the company promotes illegal use of the software. Illegal use by the users itself is not enough. Grokster was recently shut down not due to copyright infrigment itself, but because Grokster promoted illegal file sharing. Grokster made it's money by advertising, so they liked any and all use of the software. Communications from Grokser excecutives showed that they wanted and promoted illegal use of the software as a means to make more advertsing money ... Napster was a different situation as Napster held all the music on their servers and, thus, was more responsible for illegal copying. Grokster, the company not the software, never held any files, as the software allowed direct person to person exchange.