Today the Supreme Court handed down a unanimous ruling in MGM vs. Grokster, saying that P2P companies can be held liable for their users' copyright infringement. In his opinion Justice David H. Souter wrote, "We hold that one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by the clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties." The decision paves the way for a torrent of lawsuits against P2P companies, but plaintiffs must be able to prove that a company intends for their technology or service to be used for infrigment. As pointed out by Jennifer at The Shout, a company selling a file-sharing technology with "bad" intentions could be held liable but another company selling an identical technology with "good" intentions could not. In the end, this is not a case about what your technology is or is not capable of, it's about what you intended it to be used for. How that distinction will play out in the lower courts remains to be seen.

If you're into that sort of thing, SCOTUSblog provides PDF links to the opinions by Justices Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer. Much comment is sure to follow.