I’m not a lawyer, but two related stories caught my eye today:
First, on the question of whether “making a file available” counts as copyright infringement, a New York court says it does. Obviously this isn’t the final word, but the pessimist in me sees this as the start of a trend. On one hand, libraries and video rental stores could be liable for making materials “available,” but on the other hand what good is a right to “distribution” without the ability to the places that a copyrighted work is available.
C-Net forgets Grokster today in reporting about Muxtape and Mixwit, two services that allow users to upload files to share with others. While the article seems to say that the services are likely safe under the safe harbor provisions of the DMCA. However, quite unlike YouTube or Google, these services might be seen as creating a business model around infringement. I don’t completely agree with that standard, but haven’t we heard this before?