[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 87 (Monday, June 27, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1363]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        MGM V. GROKSTER DECISION

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ROBERT WEXLER

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 27, 2005

  Mr. WEXLER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of today's 9-
0 Supreme Court decision in the MGM v. Grokster case. By ruling that 
providing the software makes a file-sharing service liable for 
facilitating this online theft and for encouraging illegal downloads, 
the Court preserved this country's 200 year history of inspiring 
American creativity by protecting the rights of those who create it.
  Traffic in copyrighted material has already cost American industry 
hundreds of millions of dollars. One-half of all teenagers have 
downloaded music for free, with two-thirds of them saying they buy less 
music now that they can steal it over the Internet so easily. Given the 
severity and magnitude of the problem, I sincerely hope that today's 
ruling will force these services to either clean up their acts or 
discontinue entirely.
  The Court unanimously found what so many of us already knew: peer-to-
peer networks are merely the latest technology used to steal from 
copyright owners. Online file-sharing services, like Grokster and 
KaZaa, may not distribute copyrighted materials off of their own 
servers, but they certainly encourage that theft and profit from it. 
Just as in the physical world, promoting criminal activity is itself a 
crime. I am pleased peer-to-peer networks that actively encourage 
piracy will now be held responsible for their actions.

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