Johnny Deep (owner of Madster/Aimster) has been involved in a long running legal case against the RIAA and the MPAA over his P2P software. A case that now looks set to hit the Supreme Court.

At the end of 2002 Madster lost a preliminary injunction in their case in Chicago. Deep initially ignored this ruling resulting in large fines but eventually resigned himself to an appeal of the lower courts ruling. The appeal took place last June with a ruling shortly afterwards that went against Madster. Although the judgement did pay heavy emphasis to the non-infringing uses of P2P software; it was more the conduct of Madster that caused the case to go against them.

Now Johnny Deep is attempting to appeal the 9th circuit court of appeals decision. He has just filed a petition to the Supreme Court stressing errors he saw in the appeals court decision. This Petition for Writ of Certiorari must be filed with the Supreme Court before they will decide if they will hear a case. A response is expected on December 3rd.

If they decide not to hear the case, this surely must be near the end of the road for Johnny Deeps fight. Alternatively if the case is heard then the large weight of importance in terms of legal precedent for P2P companies cannot be overestimated.

This story is filed in these Slyck News categories
Legal/Courtroom :: Developer Lawsuits
P2P Clients :: Other Clients

The Supreme Court Submission is here

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