Conference at Noon Eastern Time, Call-In Number Available to Press

What: Post-Grokster press conference, with members of the StreamCast (Morpheus) and Grokster legal team along with representatives from the technology industry and public interest groups.

When: 12 Noon EDT today, contacts below for phone-in line for press.

Who: Richard Taranto, who argued the case on behalf of Grokster and StreamCast (Morpheus) StreamCast CEO Michael Weiss and General Counsel Matthew Neco * Charles Baker of Porter &amp Hedges, representing StreamCast * Fred von Lohmann and Cindy Cohn of the Electronic Frontier Foundation * Michael Page of Keker &amp Van Nest, attorney for Grokster * Gigi Sohn, President and Co-Founder of Public Knowledge * Edward Black, President and CEO of the Computer and Communications Industry Association * Gary Shapiro, President and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association

Why: Twenty-eight of the world's largest entertainment companies brought the lawsuit against the makers of the Morpheus, Grokster, and KaZaA software products, aiming to set a precedent to use against other technology companies (P2P and otherwise). As we noted in our arguments before the Ninth Circuit, the case raises a question of critical importance at the border between copyright and innovation: When should the distributor of a multi-purpose tool be held liable for the infringements that may be committed by end-users of the tool?

Background: The entertainment companies lost their case in District Court, and then lost again on appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The lower court rulings were based, in part, on the Supreme Court's landmark decision in the 1984 Sony Betamax case, which determined that Sony was not liable for copyright violations by users of the Betamax VCR.

Contacts:

Art Brodsky
Communications Director
Public Knowledge
abrodsky@publicknowledge.org

Annalee Newitz
Policy Analyst
Electronic Frontier Foundation
annalee@eff.org

Brian O'Neal
Senior Director of Communications
StreamCast Networks
boneal@morpheus.com

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