An Australian court ruled Monday that file-swapping service Kazaa breaches copyright. The owners have been given two months to modify their web site to prevent piracy by their users. The ruling only covers Australia, but the record industry hailed it a victory that would be felt around the globe.
"The court has ruled the current Kazaa system illegal. If they want to continue, they are going to have to stop the trade in illegal music on that system," record industry spokesman Michael Speck said outside the court. Federal Court Judge Murray Wilcox found six of the 10 defendants, including owners Sharman Networks Ltd., infringed copyright and ordered them to pay 90 per cent of the record industry’s costs in the case. The final total could be massive.
"These people have crowed for years about the downloads — 270 million downloads of somebody else’s work each month," said Speck. "We will ask the court when it comes to damages to reflect the value of the music these people ripped off."
In a statement, Sharman said that "we will appeal those parts of the decision where we were not successful and are confident of a win on appeal." What was clear is that the judgment does not attempt to make file-swapping illegal. Wilcox said that if Kazaa is to continue its operations its owners have to ensure that new versions of the software filters unlicensed copyright material. How that can be managed was unclear.
The case is the latest in a long line of courtroom showdowns between peer-to-peer networks and copyright holders, such as record companies. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Hollywood and the music industry can file piracy lawsuits against technology companies caught encouraging customers to steal music and movies over the internet.
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