File-swapping company, Grokster is gone.  After a $50 million settlement with Hollywood studios, the company agreed to discontinue providing its peer-to-peer program.

Grokster, it was found this past summer, encouraged its users to use its service to pirate software, music, and other digital content.  In a ruling that raised a lot of controversy this summer, the courts said that a company can be held liable if it is found to actively encourage people to violate copyright.  Grokster and other peer networks many believe try to gain users by promising them access to free everything (including commercial content).

Companies like Grokster were making impressive levels of profit through advertising and other means. Many developers, (including this one), felt it pretty unacceptable for a company to make a profit by empowering users to steal from other companies.

While peer-to-peer file sharing is a legitimate form of software distribution, there is little excuse for having generic, unmoderated search engines or unregulated listings of it (just as WinCustomize and other reputable skin sites actively police what content it links to and what is displayed).