Mercora Inc. has teamed with embattled peer-to-peer software provider Grokster Ltd. to form “Grokster Radio.”
Mercora’s P2P Radio technology, much like the original Napster, allows P2P sharing of files, but not downloading. The company likens their service to internet radio, even going so far as to call it “the world’s largest radio network.”
The company has roughly 200,000 users and pays about $400 per month in royalty fees, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. By tapping into Grokster’s larger network of users, Mercora expects to be paying $20,000 a month in royalties by the end of 2005.
For Grokster users, the service provides a legal way to share files. “We’re trying to find ways to let our users enjoy what they’re doing and hopefully prevent them from getting involved in all of those lawsuits,” says Grokster president Daniel Rung.
The RIAA has sued Grokster and others for copyright infringement, but courts have ruled that those companies could not be held liable for the illegal actions of individual users. Hundreds of individual users have been sued by the recording industry in the last year.
