Judge Rules in Favor of File Sharing Services
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Time for a little business buzz right now. The entertainment industry has suffered a major blow in its fight against song sharing. Let's go back to New York and Susan Lisovicz. Susan, a victory for downloaders?</s>SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, in essence, because these particular firms, Carol, did not provide the files. Napster was -- went out of business because of a court ruling. But what happened on Friday was that a California federal judge ruled that song-swapping services Grokster and Morpheus are not liable for copyright infringements by its users. The Recording Industry Association of America, as well as some of the biggest entertainment companies in the United States, Walt Disney, as well as Arista Records, as well as Time Warner Entertainment, of course a part of AOL Time Warner, the parent company of this network, claim that these sites allow illegal exchanges of songs. But the judge said that they're not significantly different from companies that sell home video recording and copying machines. In essence, Carol, the judge said Napster provided the files but these two companies just provide the software. So the courts are not inside everybody's home to see what consumers use them for. But obviously, the music industry is very upset about it because music sales last year dipped nearly 9 percent.</s>COSTELLO: Wow!</s>LISOVICZ: And that's one of the reasons why, they say.</s>COSTELLO: Yes, but I can see cheering on every college campus in America.</s>LISOVICZ: Yes. Yes. Yes.</s>COSTELLO: Quick look at the futures -- Susan.</s>LISOVICZ: Mixed open, which is a nice change from Friday, because both the Dow and Nasdaq finished down 1.6 percent. The Dow ended in the red for the week. The Nasdaq and the S&P; 500 actually managed to eke out gains. Today keep an eye on shares of McDonald's. The company expected to report earnings before the opening bell and that company has really been feeling the pain of the economic decline. As well as economic reports, personal spending and income also due today -- Carol.</s>COSTELLO: All right. Thank you, Susan, many thanks. We'll check back with you tomorrow.</s>LISOVICZ: My pleasure. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com