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Sharman Networks gets sued by Kazaa coder

17 March 2004 16:06 by Petteri "dRD" Pyyny | 12 comments

Romanian programmer Fabian Toader has sued Sharman Networks, the owner of popular file-sharing software Kazaa, over alleged copyright violations. The case doesn't relate to P2P network and files that are shared in it, but relates to the period back in year 2000 when Toader wrote parts of the Kazaa software for Kazaa BV (the original Dutch owner of the Kazaa software that later sold the software to Sharman).

Mr. Toader claims that he worked as a freelancer for Kazaa BV and helped to write the Kazaa Media Desktop software, but didn't sign any contract that would have automatically transferred the copyrights to Kazaa BV.

The fight between Toader and Sharman has been going on for quite a while now, even though it hasn't managed to get into headlines. Back in summer of 2003, Sharman sued Toader alleging him to blackmail the company. The recent lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles by Mr. Toader, is a second one filed by him against Sharman. Mr. Toader currently lives in the States and works for Microsoft. He wants Sharman to pay for his work that has been downloaded, including only the latest version, for over 335 million times according to Sharman Networks.

Source: BBC

Permalink to this article

Australian court rejects Sharman's appeal (8 October 2004)

P2P filesharing on mobile phones? (16 September 2004)

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Discuss this article!
Nephilim (Moderator) 17 March 2004 17:12
There's more lawsuits flying around these days then there are people. [ + quote]
Daskins (Senior Member) 17 March 2004 17:40
i think they should pay him..lol [ + quote]
hobogod (Newbie) 17 March 2004 22:34
heres another example of what microsoft does to an individual. i thing we should have expected this [ + quote]
Ghostdog (Senior Member) 18 March 2004 4:14
But wouldn�t it good if Sharman was forced to pay this guy? I�ve never respected that company. [ + quote]
Nephilim (Moderator) 18 March 2004 6:58
If what he's claiming is true then they should absolutely have to pay him. Trying to keep up with all these lawsuits makes my head spin tho. [ + quote]
Toiletman (Senior Member) 18 March 2004 9:31
Hobogod, this is not the time to diss M$. You will have plenty of other opportunities -_- Anyway, I think they should pay him since, 335,000,000 is no small number. He created the software afterall, and we dumped all the shit in it. [ + quote]
Daskins (Senior Member) 18 March 2004 13:04
yep we dumped all the crap in the software that he created and the software is good (well for the first couple of months)then that network got plagued with viruses and stuff, well i still think they should pay him. [ + quote]
hobogod (Newbie) 18 March 2004 13:32
haha good call toilet man. I do agree with sharman paying him. Its a pitty that sharman decided to make people pay for their service in the first place. Although now, free networks are flourishing whre sharman has failed, so kazaa ending may not be a bad thing for the industry. [ + quote]
YODA999 (Inactive) 19 March 2004 8:47
JUST ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF MICROSOFT TRYING TO CONTROL SOMETHING IF THIS GUY SUCEEDS WITH THE ALLEDGED MONEY OF MICROSSOFT THEN I DONT THINK SHARMAN NETWORKS STAND A CHANCE AND THIS WILL BE ANOTHER P2P SITE THAT GOES DOWN THE SWANNY JUST LIKE MORPHEUS DID THEY WILL END UP CHARGING FOR IT. [ + quote]
Daskins (Senior Member) 19 March 2004 12:31
well i guess bye, bye Kazaa [ + quote]
hobogod (Newbie) 21 March 2004 20:13
kazaa network wont die for a long time folks, dont get down :*\| kazaa client on the other hand was doomed from the day they inserted spyware. the network will live because we all use kazaa lite/resurection watever u want to call it now so keep on sharing people [ + quote]
Ghostdog (Senior Member) 22 March 2004 4:00
Since we�re kind of on the topic and since I�ve been wanting to go back to Fasttrack... What Kazaa client is the best right now? I heard Kazaa Lite is still in the works but still at a "RC" stage, as in not final. And now KLR, different installers, nsane edition... one goes woozy. So what are the differences between the different releases and which is the best? [ + quote]