MORPHEUS™ STILL STANDING AFTER SUPREME COURT RULING |
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StreamCast Networks Vows to Continue its Fight for Freedom to Innovate Los Angeles, June 27, 2005 -“We will continue our David vs. Goliath fight to prove that we operate 100% on the right side of the law. Once all the evidence is put forward, we are confident that it will be proven that Morpheus did not, does not and will not promote or encourage copyright infringement. We voluntarily worked closely and will continue to work closely with federal agencies such as the FTC to go above and beyond the letter of the law to make sure users know they shouldn’t infringe copyright,” Michael Weiss, StreamCast Networks’ Morpheus CEO said in commenting on today’s Supreme Court ruling. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court decided today to remand the MGM et. al. v. Grokster and StreamCast Networks, Inc. case back to the lower Federal Court, which had ruled in favor of file-sharing software. The ruling stands for the proposition that the trial Court has to look at the facts to see if StreamCast intended and encouraged Morpheus to be used to infringe on copyrights. “While today’s ruling did not give us the clear victory of affirming the Appellate Court decision in our favor, it nevertheless reinforces that no federal judge has ruled against Morpheus to date. Morpheus does not induce or encourage copyright infringement. We will continue to innovate, and continue to discourage users from engaging in copyright infringement. The Morpheus software provides an efficient means for distribution of digital media and creates a powerful distribution channel that we expect will be embraced by many, many content providers and copyright holders. This is demonstrated by the new Morpheus 5 version released just last week which was built to further provide copyright holders and content providers ways to sell, distribute and/or promote their creations with superiority.” VP/General Counsel for StreamCast Networks Matthew A. Neco commented, “The Supreme Court decision is Orwellian in that Hollywood – the Copyright and Entertainment Industries now become the Thought Police. In every instance where some product might possibly be used for copyright infringement, the copyright holder can now sue and weigh down innovation with expensive, time and resource consuming discovery and trials.” “It is unfortunate that product creators will now have to bear a major expense in litigation to defend themselves against the controlling interests of the copyright industry. “This will be a full lawyer employment outcome; because when something becomes so fact intensive and where there is such great uncertainty lawyers will get pulled into every aspect of innovation and business,” Neco concluded. “In the end, the entertainment industry always embraces what they fear the most…be it player piano roles, FM radio, home video, or cable TV. P2P will be no different, and once they do embrace this technology, they will profit greatly. The question is who gets to control the technology—us or them. That is what this battle is all about,” concluded Weiss.
Contact: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . © 2005 StreamCast Networks, Inc.. Morpheus™ is a product of StreamCast Networks, Inc. NEOnet™ is a product of, and Neo Network™ is a trademark of Gnuterra Corporation. All rights, including copyrights, trademarks, and patents pending and issued are reserved to the respective rights holders and licensors. Morpheus’ use of the names, marks, or logos of its competitors or P2P networks is not intended to imply that Morpheus (StreamCast Networks, Inc.) or any of its competitors is or are in any way associated or affiliated with, acquiring, or endorsing each other. # # #
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