Opinion: The beat(down) goes on

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The landmark MGM v Grokster case lives on, although the end might actually be in sight. Today, U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson in Los Angeles rejected the entertainment companies’ proposal for a permanent injunction against StreamCast, the sole remaining defendant in the case (the others have all settled with the major record companies, music publishers and Hollywood studios). Wilson said an injunction would be appropriate -- after all, he ruled last September that StreamCast Networks (the company behind the Morpheus P2P network) was liable because it induced users to copy songs and movies without the copyright owners’ permission -- but the terms and scope need to be more, well, nuanced than the entertainment industry’s lawyers sought. Read more about today’s action here, at the Bit Player blog.