By Andreas M. Antonopoulos and Johna Till Johnson, Nemertes Research Inc.

July 1, 2005

The June 27 U.S. Supreme Court decision holding peer-to-peer (P2P) provider Grokster potentially liable for copyright infringement may appear to have little enterprise impact other than on entertainment companies, which are relieved that companies blatantly promoting piracy cannot hide behind “substantial non-infringing use” (the Sony Betamax decision of 1984).

But the Grokster decision could adversely affect enterprises assessing P2P technologies for next-generation apps. Although P2P applications are generally viewed as “rogue” software used chiefly by consumers, these applications are quietly playing a critical—and entirely legitimate--role in the emerging real-time collaboration market.
Privately held Kontiki Inc., for example, relies on peer-to-peer technologies to distribute video across an enterprise. Customers include Nextel, Ernst and Young, and other large companies who are using the technology for internal sales training and collaboration.

The complete Impact Analysis is available to Nemertes clients. For more information, please contact Christine Zimmerman at christine@nemertes.com