Decision of the court –

On Monday June 26th 2005 a unanimous decision was issued by the Supreme court in the case of MGM vs Grokster. The notice on their website said, "The United States Supreme Court unanimously confirmed that using this service to trade copyrighted material is illegal. Copying copyrighted motion picture and music files using unauthorized peer-to-peer services is illegal and is prosecuted by copyright owners."

The decision was a very strong victory for the companies with copyright issues and will mostlikley set the president for the sites that allow copyrighted material to be downloaded over their software. This ruling also gives the recording industry and Hollywood movie companies immediate rights to file lawsuits against companies that continue to allow users to trade copyrighted files. Companies that will benifiet are the ones that allow users and subscribers access to be able to download music and movies over paid sited, such as iTunes and Amazon.
"I think the Supreme Court did the right thing, in a lucid way," said Rob Glaser, CEO of RealNetworks. "I think it will make a difference in the long slog to convert the industry over to legitimacy, by not allowing businesses to do this kind of nudge-nudge wink-wink marketing."

*NOTE: In my opinion, I read this quote and think to myself, it has changed nothing. It is easier for me to download anything now than it was back in 2005. The bit-torrent sites are not even deeper underground, all you have to do is type "download music" into google and in about 5 minutes you can download just about anything you want.

As of November 07, 2005 Grokster has not offered or allowed users to download anything over their site. The notice on their website said, "The United States Supreme Court unanimously confirmed that using this service to trade copyrighted material is illegal. Copying copyrighted motion picture and music files using unauthorized peer-to-peer services is illegal and is prosecuted by copyright owners."