Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. (MGM), et al.
Petitioners
Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., Counsel of RecordIn October 2001, a group of major motion picture studios, record companies, and music publishers and artists filed suit against the Internet file-sharing companies Grokster and StreamCast, alleging massive copyright infringement by their software users. The suit was the latest in a ongoing series of legal challenges by movie and music industries to prevent the widespread swapping of copyright-protected audio and video files over the Internet. Unlike in previous cases, however, both a Federal district court and the Ninth Circuit court of appeals ruled in favor of the Internet companies, holding that their software…