Court rules in favour of record labels, Kazaa found illegal
{{date|September  5, 2005}}
[[Image:Kazaa-logo.gif|frame|right|Kazaa's logo]]

[[w:Sharman Networks|Sharman Networks]], owner of the popular [[w:Kazaa|Kazaa]] [[w:peer-to-peer|peer-to-peer]] software, lost against a coalition of record labels in an [[w:Federal Court of Australia|Australian federal court]]. The court ruled that Kazaa infringed on artists' copyright and facilitated piracy. The list of plaintiffs included [[w:EMI|EMI]], [[w:Sony BMG|Sony BMG]], [[w:Warner|Warner]], [[w:Festival Mushroom|Festival Mushroom]] and [[w:Universal|Universal]]. 

The court has ordered Sharman to modify the software within two months to prevent further piracy. While this order is only valid in [[w:Australia|Australia]], Sharman is incorporated in the country and thus the effect of the ruling will be felt in the peer to peer community worldwide. Sharman was also ordered to pay 90% of the plaintiff's legal fees, with damages to be considered at a later date. Sharman has said it will appeal.

It is unclear whether this will have a significant effect on preventing piracy in the music industry. Surveys have shown that users have already abandoned Kazaa, which used to be the dominant peer to peer program used for sharing files, in favour of newer networks such as [[w:EDonkey Network|eDonkey]] and [[w:BitTorrent|BitTorrent]]. This trend amongst users was also observed to happen with [[w:Grokster|Grokster]] and [[w:Napster|Napster]], two legacy peer-to-peer networks which faced similar suits.

This is not the first case in which Sharman has had to defend itself: in a related case in the [[w:U.S. Supreme Court|U.S. Supreme Court]] which concluded two months ago, the court ruled that file sharing networks could be held responsible for the actions of their users in some circumstances. This may have influenced this most recent case, where the court found the Kazaa website encouraged visitors to feel 'cool' about breaking copyright law and downloading illegal music.

Kazaa, or other versions of it, has been estimated to be installed on up to 300 million computers worldwide.

== Related News ==
{{Audio|En-Court rules in favour of record labels, Kazaa found illegal.ogg|2005-09-05}}
*[[Kazaa Trial concluding]], ''[[Main Page|Wikinews]]'', March 23, 2005

== Sources ==
*{{source|url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-09/05/content_3446349.htm
|title=Kazaa users infringe copyright: court
|author=
|pub=xinhuanet
|date=September 05, 2005}}

*{{source|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4214810.stm
|title=Legal loss for Kazaa file-sharers
|author=
|pub=BBC News
|date=September 05, 2005}}

*{{source|url=http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2005/09/05/afx2205863.html
|title=Australia court rules music file-swapping software infringes copyright
|author=
|pub=Forbes
|date=September 05, 2005}}

*{{source|url=http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,16498056%255E1702,00.html
|title=File system 'infringes copyright'
|author=
|pub=The Courier Mail
|date=September 05, 2005}}

{{Publish}}

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[[Category:Science and technology]]
[[Category:Australia]]
[[Category:Crime and law]]
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Copyright]]

[[de:Urteil zur Musik-Tauschbörse „KaZaA“: Betreiber tragen Mitschuld an Copyright-Verletzungen]]
[[nl:Gebruikers van Kazaa schuldig bevonden]]
Kazaa's logo

Sharman Networks, owner of the popular Kazaa peer-to-peer software, lost against a coalition of record labels in an Australian federal court. The court ruled that Kazaa infringed on artists' copyright and facilitated piracy. The list of plaintiffs included EMI, Sony BMG, Warner, Festival Mushroom and Universal. 

The court has ordered Sharman to modify the software within two months to prevent further piracy. While this order is only valid in Australia, Sharman is incorporated in the country and thus the effect of the ruling will be felt in the peer to peer community worldwide. Sharman was also ordered to pay 90% of the plaintiff's legal fees, with damages to be considered at a later date. Sharman has said it will appeal.

It is unclear whether this will have a significant effect on preventing piracy in the music industry. Surveys have shown that users have already abandoned Kazaa, which used to be the dominant peer to peer program used for sharing files, in favour of newer networks such as eDonkey and BitTorrent. This trend amongst users was also observed to happen with Grokster and Napster, two legacy peer-to-peer networks which faced similar suits.

This is not the first case in which Sharman has had to defend itself: in a related case in the U.S. Supreme Court which concluded two months ago, the court ruled that file sharing networks could be held responsible for the actions of their users in some circumstances. This may have influenced this most recent case, where the court found the Kazaa website encouraged visitors to feel 'cool' about breaking copyright law and downloading illegal music.

Kazaa, or other versions of it, has been estimated to be installed on up to 300 million computers worldwide.

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de:Urteil zur Musik-Tauschbörse „KaZaA“: Betreiber tragen Mitschuld an Copyright-Verletzungen
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