Yesterday's Ruling Won't Slow File Swapping

CNET: While yesterday's long awaited decision casts uncertainty on the fate of Grokster and other file-swapping companies, it did not cast uncertainty on the viability of file-swapping itself. P2P software is now used by more than 8 million people simultaneously around the world and in the U.S., "the average number of people swapping media files simultaneously on major P2P networks rose from nearly 3 million in 2003 to more than 6 million this year", according to BigChampagne...

Even though the decision seems like a victory for the entertainment industry - one gargantuan challenge for the major labels and rightsholders to overcome is that "while file swapping may prove to be a poor business venture - many P2P software developers and users aren't in it for money...They're young and smart, and they do it because they can."

"The only thing we can say for certain is that there will be more confusion, more litigation, more and more copyright infringement online and a long road ahead," BigChampagne's Garland said. What Monday's ruling may stop (or at least delay) are further innovations in P2P technology, said Adam Eisgrau, a lobbyist for P2P United. "The reality is, if you've got the next best (P2P) mousetrap on your blackboard, you may well have used your eraser defensively today because those plans could be used against you in court."