News Release

Contact: Chris McManes
Senior Public Relations Coordinator
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IEEE-USA Intellectual Property Committee Chair and
Copyright Attorney Available for Interviews on MGM vs. Grokster Electronic File Sharing Case Before Supreme Court

WASHINGTON (30 March 2005) — IEEE-USA Intellectual Property Committee (IPC) Chair Andrew Greenberg is available to assist journalists working on the “MGM Studios vs. Grokster” electronic file sharing case now before the U.S. Supreme Court. Oral arguments were heard Tuesday.

Greenberg, an intellectual property attorney with Carlton Fields, P.A. in Tampa, Fla., helped draft the amicus curiae brief IEEE-USA filed in the case in January. IEEE-USA proposed that artists’ works and technological innovation can both be accommodated by holding a manufacturer of a technology having non-infringing uses liable only when the manufacturer had actively induced its customers to infringe. Active inducement solutions were raised by the Court during oral arguments.

“File-sharing technology serves as the basis for the Internet and should be unrestricted to produce future revolutionary digital products,” Greenberg said. “On the other hand, copyright owners must not be left to the mercy of those who set out to knowingly and intentionally induce third parties to infringe. The fact that neither party has embraced the Court’s suggestion confirms that active inducement may be the middle ground the Court is seeking.”

Greenberg testified before Congress on the “Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act of 2004” (www.ieeeusa.org/policy/issues/INDUCE/) and worked with former IEEE-USA IPC Chair Glenn Tenney to amend the failed legislation.

The final version of IEEE-USA’s friend-of-the-court brief is accessible at www.ieeeusa.org/policy/POLICY/2005/MGMvGrokster.pdf. The 24 January news release is available at www.ieeeusa.org/communications/releases/2005/012405pr.asp.

The Supreme Court is expected to release its decision in June.

IEEE-USA is an organizational unit of the IEEE. It was created in 1973 to advance the public good and promote the careers and public policy interests of the more than 220,000 technology professionals who are U.S. members of the IEEE. The IEEE is the world's largest technical professional society. For more information, go to http://www.ieeeusa.org.

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Last Update:  15 May 2007
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