James Delahunty
26 Nov 2004 14:49
The world’s major record labels are gathering their lawyers and experts to prepare for the next steps in their battle against illegal file-sharing. The Recording Industry vs. Kazaa will kick off in court on Monday. The Recording Industry is looking for action to stop illegal file-sharing and of course compensation for past illegal downloads, which could mean billions of dollars. The suit is targeting Sharman Networks (the owners of the Kazaa software), LEF Interactive; Altnet, which delivers so-called "piggyback" technology with Kazaa; Altnet-affiliated Brilliant Digital Entertainment; Sharman CEO Nicola Hemming; Altnet CEO Kevin Bermeister; and two technology directors.
The liability phase of the trial will go ahead on Monday, and if the court finds the named defendants liable for the mass piracy that has taken place through the use of Kazaa, the labels will begin to claim for damages. "We don't want to shut down Kazaa, just its illegal activities," said Michael Speck, general manager of Music Industry Piracy Investigations, a body set up by major Australian record labels to target copyright infringers. I don't understand how Kazaa would survive if Sharman had to pay billions of dollars of damages to the Recording Industry so I personally don't believe Mr. Speck's statement.
Sharman Networks claim that they urge their users not to commit music piracy, but also state that they cannot control the trading on their network. For this reason, everything from music to movies can be downloaded and shared using the network. In the United States, two federal courts in California have cleared Grokster Ltd. and StreamCast Networks Inc. of liability but an appeal by the RIAA to the U.S. Supreme Court is still pending. Sharman Networks have also found legal luck in the past. In December 2003, the Dutch Supreme Court ruled that Kazaa's Netherlands division cannot be held liable for copyright infringement. It will be interesting to see how things go in an Australian court.
Sources:
Reuters
MercuryNews.com