[JURIST] The US Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that developers of software violate federal copyright law when they provide computer users with the ability to share music and movie files downloaded from the internet. Read the Court's opinion [PDF]. AP has more.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit had previously held [PDF ruling] in MGM Studios v. Grokster [Duke Law backgrounder] that Grokster was not liable for vicarious copyright infringement. The court determined that Grokster had neither the right nor the capability to stop the direct infringements.