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Deconstructing The Grokster Decision

By George M. Borkowski
November 30, 2005

Serendipity used to be a popular notion. While the term may have fallen from favor, the concept itself still makes appearances ' often surprising ones (as one would think). And while serendipity is not something you would expect to be associated with the U.S. Supreme Court, that is precisely where it was last sighted, specifically in the June ruling in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer v. Grokster.

I believe that those who create or are involved in creating art of all sorts, thus making life better for the rest of us, deserve to be paid for their efforts and to have control over how their work is exploited. (My strong belief in copyrights apparently paints me as a troglodyte in the eyes of some.) As a result, I had viewed the Grokster case as a golden opportunity for the Supreme Court to set right what was so clearly wrong with the rulings of two lower courts that essentially had held that copyright protection on the Internet was a fantasy that must give way in all instances to some vague notion of “technology,” which apparently, by itself, was the key to a perfect society and a better life.

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