SCOTUS rulings-a-plenty
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that developers of software violate federal copyright law when they provide computer users with the means to share music and movie files downloaded from the Internet, at least when the software companies take “affirmative steps to foster infringement.”
In a 6-3 ruling, the Court decided that cable operators offering high-speed Internet access have no legal duty to open their service to customers of all Internet service providers.
In a 7-2 decision, the Court ruled that local governments have no constitutional duty to protect from private violence an individual who is shielded by a court’s restraining order. Such individuals do not gain an enforceable interest in that protection, the Court declared in an opinion by Justice Scalia. The case was Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales (04-278).
In other rulings, the Supreme Court upheld a federal court order against a display of the religious document on the wall of courthouses in two Kentucky counties but found no constitutional violation in the placement of a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the state capitol building in Austin, Texas.
See http://www.scotusblog.com/movabletype/archives/2005/06/grokster_stream.html and http://www.scotusblog.com/movabletype/archives/2005/06/access_to_cable.html#restrainme for more information.
