A Moment of Truth for Copyright

Ever since its 2005 decision in MGM Studios v. Grokster, the U.S. Supreme Court has sat on the sidelines, denying cert on any copyright case it has been asked to review. The justices refused to consider the liability of credit card companies serving Web sites that allegedly host pirated material (Perfect 10 v. Visa International), the culpability of satellite providers that rebroadcast TV programming (CBS Broadcasting, Inc. v. EchoStar Communications Corp.), and whether an author’s estate should be able to recapture control of copyright from a production studio (Milne v. Slesinger). But is the long wait over?

“My own view is that [the Court] can only punt so many times,” says Jay Rosenthal, senior vice president and general counsel at the National Music Publishers’ Association. Since 2005, the stakes have gotten higher: Those who own copyrighted content have unleashed a flurry of lawsuits against digital distributors from mygazines. com to YouTube, claiming widespread infringement, while technophiles claim that rights holders have trampled on fair use and have overreached with baseless cease-and-desist letters and unreasonable requests for high statutory damages.