Peer-to-Peer Computing:Antitrust Questions for a Fledgling Technology

Chris Compton, Partner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C., and Scott Sher, Associate, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C.

4/18/2008
(Original Publish Date: 3/1/2001)

Industry giants like Intel are touting peer-to-peer (“P2P”) computing as the third generation of the Internet—following world-wide access (the advent of web protocols to allow connectivity) and Mosaic (the World Wide Web to allow interface). Experts proclaim that P2P computing will usher in a new era of networked computing, allowing vast numbers of both business and individual users to communicate directly with each other without the need of a central server. Industry leaders such as Intel, IBM, and Hewlett-Packard, as well as many of the smaller companies founded to design and develop P2P networks and protocols, have recently come together to form the Peer-to-Peer Working Group (the “Working Group”). The Working Group has been convened to develop a P2P community, create and promote P2P specifications that will ensure interoperability, support the development and proliferation of a “ubiquitous platform infrastructure,” and “evangelize” (i.e., market) P2P computing as “the next computing revolution.”