File-swapping firms to lobby Washington for legitimacy

Peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing companies are to band together and form an industry lobby group this summer in an attempt to fight back against entertainment industry efforts to stifle them. The move is being initiated by Grokster President Wayne Rosso who said he is planning to help launch a trade group in September that will try to convince the US Congress that P2P can be legitimate ventures.

The group will work to tell its side of the story and counteract claims by the record industry, which has sought to characterise P2P networks as havens of piracy and porn.

Rosso said: "We're going to join the debate."

The group will also encourage P2P companies to "take responsibility and clean up our own house." Rosso said the trade body will support compulsory licensing, an overhaul of the content payment system that could force music labels and movie studios to allow anyone who asks - or who pushes a download button - to use their works on demand. Radio broadcasters and webcasters currently use this model.

The announcement of the group, which has yet to adopt a formal name, comes just days after Sharman Networks, distributor of KaZaA, said it is launching a separate trade group that will work to bring together all types of companies that operate in, or are affected by, the P2P market. Those companies could include P2P operators as well as internet providers and record labels.

Rosso said his group would be confined to P2P companies, partly because he does not think the record labels - which have been busy suing P2P operators and file swappers - are interested in participating in talks.

He said: "We don't think that's realistic. We are dealing with serial litigators."

Two weeks ago, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) warned that it would start gathering information about people using P2P networks to share music, so it could file thousands of copyright infringement lawsuits against them. In recent years, the RIAA has sued P2P companies such as Napster, Aimster and Scour.

Rosso said the decision to form the trade group resulted from a ruling in yet another lawsuit brought by the RIAA against P2P companies including Grokster and KaZaA. In that ruling, a judge not only said the companies were not responsible for file trading that took place using their software but also that if any changes are to be made to copyright laws affecting the P2P market, then Congress should make them.

The new P2P trade body has already hired a lobbyist. But Rosso would not identify the lobbyist, saying only that the person is an expert in copyright law. He said the group has signed on at least five other P2P companies, but he would not reveal their names.

The RIAA's reaction to the announcement of the new group mirrored its reaction to the birth of a new file-swapping network.

An RIAA representative said: "It seems odd that corporations who purposely facilitate illegal activity for a living are opening a Washington office to advocate their right to do so. This is apparently a reaction to the interest of Congress in the rampant piracy, security and privacy concerns arising from abuse of P2P networks."

Lisa M Bowman writes for CNET News.com