fasttrack protocol questions

[Borgster]

im wondering about the fasttrack protocol. before kazaa was sold to sharman, it was being owned by these dutch people, who i believe ran the fasttrack protocol, what im wondering is, does sharman control the fasttrack protocol, or does the two dutch guys? if the riaa shuts down kazaa, will the fasttrack protocol still be running if the two dutch guys own it? someone please answer, im just confused by this. also the fasttrack website, www.fasttrack.nu doesnt say anything about sharman owning it.

[ryan2_2]

i think they two guys just sold the rights to kazaa not fasttrack to sharman networks. and if sharman networks get shut down, imesh and grokster will still be able to hold it up. sharman networks days of "controling Fasttrack" are goin to be over when rapidroad comes out because rapidroad is going to make fasttrack open source.

[jonny5]

The ownership of FastTrack is spread among several firms. The original KaZaA ownership (KaZaA BV) sold the software to Sharman networks, however maintained control over the FastTrack protocol. KaZaA BV then licensed the FastTrack technology through another company, called Blastoise, dba Joltid. The following excerpt indicates that FastTrack is a joint venture between Sharman Networks, AltNet (formerly Brilliant Digital) and Joltid (formerly KaZaA BV).

"Blastoise is owned and operated by the developers of the FastTrack P2P technology, the underlying technology which operates the KaZaA and Grokster P2P networks. Blastoise owns the rights to the FastTrack technology. Pursuant to our agreement, Blastoise acquired 49% of the outstanding common stock of Altnet." Read the full report here.


Got that from this article http://www.slyck.com/fasttrackhistory.html

[Borgster]

thanks for your responses. i have a better idea of it now.