k wrote:
Fuck!

[ That is EXACTLY the reaction Ryan had. I agreed then and will now do so again. -k]

I might suggest waiting for the EFF to announce their take on things. I haven't read the decision yet and the devil is in the details, but I don't think the EFF was expecting "total victory." Their pre-decision reading guide nearly predicts a result of this sort:

# No matter what, we've won. From the beginning of this lawsuit, the entertainment industries pushed the lower courts to adopt extreme, outlandish interpretations of copyright law. For example, they argued that the Sony Betamax decision doesn't apply at all to Internet technologies, and that simply knowing that somebody is using your technology to infringe triggers an obligation to redesign it. No matter what the Court may announce on Monday, it will not be adopting this extreme position. So remember what we've already won.

# Next Bout: Congress... A big victory for either side will be characterized as an "extreme" result, potentially strengthening the hand of the opposite side in Congress. An intermediate outcome, on the other hand, may lead Congress to "leave well enough alone."

They may have gotten what they wanted already.

Decius wrote:
I might suggest waiting for the EFF to announce their take on things. I haven't read the decision yet and the devil is in the details...
They may have gotten what they wanted already.

I agree. From the sources I have been reading, this seems like a reasonably well structured result. Having the three concurring opinions, it sounds like the decision is structured on the intent. And intent is a giant loophole. It means that unless you have very good counsel, don't write memos, email, or ad copy around what bad things could be done with your technology. Verbally insist on only doing good with technology, and you won't have to retain great lawyers before a small release.

That is, if we wanted a stronger ruling, Grokster and Kazaa were really bad poster companies.

And I agree with the EFF that we're probably better off with a result like this than a strong opinion in either direction (considering the resources stacked against us if it had gone very badly or very well).