Groups Seek Reversal of File-Sharing Ruling

The Bush administration and more than a dozen groups of copyright holders, technology companies, anti-pornography advocates and academics have joined major record companies, Hollywood studios and music publishers in urging the Supreme Court to reverse the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision last year in favor of the popular Grokster and Morpheus file-sharing networks.

The high court is scheduled to hear arguments March 29. At issue is whether the software companies can be held liable when users make unauthorized copies of music and movies from one another’s computers.

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Jon Healey