The Recording Industry will soon ask the Red Cross to freeze a trust fund allegedly controlled by the owners of Sharman Networks, an Australian Software company that owns the Kazaa P2P client. The music industry maintains that Sharman, the maker of the Kazaa peer-to-peer software, is owned by several companies through a trust fund registered in the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu. The Red Cross is the only beneficiary specifically named in the trust, so the recording industry, which is suing Sharman, is asking the organization to voluntarily freeze the fund until a verdict is reached in the Australian Federal Court.
"We’re preparing our approach to the International Red Cross,” says Michael Speck of Australia’s Music Industry Piracy Investigations, which spearheads the prosecution of accused pirates. "I believe this whole thing will come as a complete surprise to them, and we’re only approaching them to stop them disposing of any funds." A lawyer acting in Sharman’s defense, Mary Still said that the approach the recording industry is taking to such a charitable organization is quite staggering. "It would be incredibly disappointing if we had to sue them," said Speck, a comment that should spark controversy.
The Recording Industry is currently in a legal battle with Sharman networks, trying to convince a judge to rule Sharman liable for damages done to the Recording Industries revenue by use of the Kazaa P2P client. If the recording industry get their way and Sharman are found liable, it seems that the Recording Industry will then sue for damages, which could be a sum possibly in hundreds of millions. The court is also interested in whether Sharman could actually control what is swapped on the P2P network, to try to stamp out the illegal sharing.
Source:
Wired
The Recording Industry is currently in a legal battle with Sharman networks, trying to convince a judge to rule Sharman liable for damages done to the Recording Industries revenue by use of the Kazaa P2P client. If the recording industry get their way and Sharman are found liable, it seems that the Recording Industry will then sue for damages, which could be a sum possibly in hundreds of millions. The court is also interested in whether Sharman could actually control what is swapped on the P2P network, to try to stamp out the illegal sharing.
Source:
Wired
