Case will be a Landmark for U.S. Copyright Industries December 13, 2004 The National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) is pleased with the U.S. Supreme Court's December 10th decision to review the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals opinion regarding peer-to-peer music service liability. The NMPA, RIAA, and MPAA had petitioned the Supreme Court to take the StreamCast Networks, Inc., and Grokster, Ltd. case in October 2004. "This case will result in a landmark ruling for the copyright and technology industries, and I believe I speak for the entire community of music publishers and songwriters when I say we are very pleased that the Supreme Court accepted our petition," said Irwin Z. Robinson, Chairman of the NMPA. "File sharing services such as Grokster and StreamCast know that the main use of their services is to trade songs, movies, software and videogames illegally, with no compensation to those that put their time and effort into creating, developing, and promoting these works. They are endorsing massive copyright infringement, and I believe that the Court will decide this case our favor." The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco had ruled in August StreamCast and Grokster were not responsible for copyright infringement on their peer-to-peer file sharing services because the companies do not have central servers pointing users to copyright material, unlike the original Napster peer-to-peer service. The case is expected to be argued in the spring of 2005, with a ruling to be issued in July 2005. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP will continue to represent the NMPA. Music publishers control the copyrights for the underlying compositions of songs on behalf of the songwriters they represent. The NMPA is the leading trade association in the United States for music publishers, and advocates for their interests and that of their songwriters to protect, uphold, and advance their valuable copyrights. About the NMPA Founded in 1917, The National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) is a trade association representing more than 800 American music publishers. The NMPA's mandate is to protect and advance the interests of music publishers and their songwriter partners in matters relating to the domestic and global protection of music copyrights.