NewsForge: Legitimate use, Open Source, Keep BitTorrent Out of Court

[ Thanks to Jason Greenwood for this link. ]

"The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) took down the Loki Torrent Web site last month, but the open source technology known as BitTorrent--used by Loki Torrent for free, unlicensed file sharing--is not a target of the movie industry or other content owners, largely because of its legitimate uses, but also, according to legal experts, because it is open source software.

"'It's open source, so who do you go after?' asked Phil Albert, IP attorney and partner with the San Francisco law firm Townsend and Townsend. 'You could go after its author and you could somehow force him to give up and say he'll never touch it--so what? It's open source. Anybody can develop on it...'"

Complete Story

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