He's somewhat pleased that the court's decision to send the case back to the Ninth Circuit court in effect upheld an earlier Sony decision involving the Betamax VCR, which declined to hold manufacturers liable for illegal acts by their users. But Lessig contends the Supreme Court's decision will chill innovation by introducing a new level of uncertainty about whether a technology creator had an intent to allow copyright infringement.

I don't have such a dire view of this as Lessig. Sure, Sony did market the Betamax in a way that would have snagged the hook set in the Grokster case, but that case did not exist at the time. I don't think that's cause for concern.

If you have a p2p tool, don't market it for infringing uses. That's pretty straightforward and easy to do. The bar has been set, and its an easy one to get over.

However, his larger point is still valid. Litigation chills innovation. That point would still be valid regardless of the outcome of this case. As long as courts exist to handle civil matters between companies, they are going to be used in ways we don't like to protect someone's business model.

Lessig on Grokster