"This is one of the most important copyright cases ever to reach this court. Resolution of the question presented here will largely determine the value, indeed the very significance, of copyright in the digital era." - MPAA and RIAA.

There have been a recent series of court decisions that have kept P2P file-swapping legal. Obviously, Hollywood studios and record companies are none too happy about this, and are seeking some kind of overturning of the rulings. They began seeking such an overturning this week. A joint petition was been made to the Supreme Court on behalf of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), claiming that the rulings serve to deeply undermine the value of copyrighted work. Both the MPAA and the RIAA still strongly advocate that the file-swapping companies should have a responsibility to design their products to help counter massive illegal activity.

"These companies have expressly designed their businesses to avoid all legal liability, with the full knowledge that over 90 percent of the material traversing their applications belongs to someone else." - MPAA.