Google under fire for removing Grooveshark app

Author: Martine Wubben - 19-04-2011

Recently, Google has been under fire for removing music app Grooveshark from its Android Marketetplace catalogue. Google apparently refuses to state more than that the Grooveshark app was removed because of violation of its Terms of Service. 

According to Paul Geller, senior vice president at Grooveshark, Google refuses to specify which provision in the Terms of Service Grooveshark has violated. To Geller it appears as if it is unclear to Google whether or not Grooveshark is a "legal service". 

Geller is convinced that Grooveshark is a legal service since it meets the requirements of the U.S. DMCA and acts in accordance to the Safe Harbor provisions. "Laws come from Congress. Licenses come from businesses, " Geller said. “Grooveshark is completely legal because we comply with the laws passed by Congress, but we are not licensed by every label (yet).”

What Geller seems to say is that Grooveshark's music service in itself is legal, in other words is not illegal as long as the hosting provider acts appropriately to DMCA notice-and-take-down-requests. However, the release of copyrighted music without the necessary licenses, is an unlawful act. Moreover, when Grooveshark's business model is based on structurally providing large-scale access to unlicensed music, even her service could be found unlawful. 

Last year, Apple removed its Grooveshark app from its App Store, following complaints from Universal Music. 

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