Mortal Enemies No More

By David E. Thigpen

After the Supreme Court ruled in MGM v. Grokster that file-sharing services can be sued for promoting illegal downloads, Mashboxx, a start-up run by Grokster's ex-president, partnered with Sony BMG Music Entertainment, whose CEO Andrew Lack, below, spoke with TIME.

Is the Grokster ruling a cause for celebration?

This is very good news. The court found that balance we were looking for with respect to tech vs. content. And it upheld a very simple thought: Thou shalt not steal, even on the Internet.

Will this discourage innovation?

That's a sham, a fraud by radical techies who developed file sharing, so all it is is a front for stealing. At the end of the day, they built their house of cards on our back.

If file sharers are your mortal enemies, why is Mashboxx different?

They don't want to see our content stolen. For one thing, they are employing filtering technology [to prevent theft of songs].

So your former enemy is now your ally?

My guess is that the industry at large is headed in that direction. We've turned a page.

How big a boon is this ruling?

Now we can expend our energies on how to distribute music. Will we have to chase illegal file services in the Seychelles and God knows where else? Yes. But most people will move to a more normal pattern of buying music. It's a long war, and this was an important battle to win. --By David E. Thigpen