Petteri Pyyny
22 Nov 2002 12:49
The trial against FastTrack-based P2P operators, MusicCity's Morpheus, Grokster and Sharman Networks' Kazaa was hit with a legal dilemma on this week. Sharman Network claims that U.S. companies can't sue it in U.S. courts because it doesn't have virtually any interests in the States.
Sharman Networks is incorporated in small island just outside Australia, called Vanuatu. Company itself operates from Australia and operates all of its servers in various countries, but not in the United States. Now the judge has to decide whether U.S. entertainment industry has any powers to even sue the company. The case might prove to be a useful example on how the international laws will be applied in the future -- it is clear that if judge allows U.S. companies to sue in the U.S., that other countries will adopt the system and will start sueing American companies in their own countries as well. Now, all American porn operators, please remember that virtually all muslim countries ban nudity -- you're gonna get sued. Or New York Times and their anti-communist ideas -- welcome to People's Republic of China, you've been just sued. Or any companies allowing to distribute Nazi memorabilia or show Nazi symbols -- you can be sued in France, Germany or various other European countries. Now, judge. Are you really, really sure you want to bow and give Big Companies the power in this particular case, hm?-)
Source: PCWorld