Attaway argues that product and service providers who base their businesses around piracy should not be able to hide behind the mantle of innovation.
"Why should device manufacturers be exempt from all possibility of litigation?" he asked.
Elliott Frutkin, chief executive of Time Trax Technologies of Gaithersburg, said that while his product is in line with the law, some users of technology are bound to push legal boundaries.
(Jahi Chikwendiu -- The Washington Post)
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_____Explainer_____
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The Peer-to-Peer Family: BitTorrent allows Internet users to share files at a faster clip than its more traditional peer-to-peer cousins. This graphic shows how it works.
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_____Story Archive_____
 • Disparate Cast Lobbies Court To Restrict File Sharing (The Washington Post, Jan 26, 2005)
• U.S. Asks High Court to Curb File Swapping (The Washington Post, Jan 25, 2005)
• Tech Firms to Seek Legal Protection From Pirating (The Washington Post, Jan 24, 2005)
• High Court To Weigh File Sharing (The Washington Post, Dec 11, 2004)
• Appeals Court Ruling Favors File-Sharing (The Washington Post, Aug 20, 2004)
• File-Swap Sites Not Infringing, Judge Says (The Washington Post, Apr 26, 2003)
_____Case Documents_____
• Archive FindLaw collected briefs, previous rulings, profiles and commentary on one Web page.
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Another source of tension will probably be copying of digital radio programs and other broadcast "streams" designed to be listened to but not downloaded.
Marks of the RIAA said his organization has told the FCC that users should be allowed to record only an entire program or stream, not cherry-pick individual songs to build their own music libraries.
TimeTrax allows recording of individual elements of a program, Frutkin said, but to demonstrate the company's anti-piracy commitment, it electronically stamps any recorded element so that if it showed up on a file-sharing network it would be easy to trace.
Other small companies are working to steer clear of any potential confrontation with the entertainment industry.
A California company called Grouper Networks Inc. makes file-sharing software for the private use of family members or other small groups, mostly aimed at those wanting to share photos. The software prevents the copying of music files and imposes restrictions on the size of any group wishing to share photos.
"We know what people want to do" with the software, said founder Josh Felser, "but we are not going to get embroiled in the controversy surrounding file-sharing."
Some who are concerned about the Grokster case say no matter what the Supreme Court does, the movie studios and recording labels are ultimately fighting a losing battle by trying to bottle up new technologies.
"We are moving into a world where access to information is more democratized," said Brad Burnham, a New York venture capitalist who works with early-stage media companies. "It's too easy to move it around. Value is going to shift from the creation of content to the organization and customization of that content."
