Australian Court Rules Kazaa Has Violated Copyrights

Australian Court Rules Kazaa Has Violated Copyrights - New York Times: "SINGAPORE, Sept. 5 - An Australian court ruled on Monday that the popular file-sharing network Kazaa violated Australian music copyrights and ordered the company to modify its software to help prevent it.

'The respondents authorized users to infringe the applicants' copyright in their sound recording,' Murray R. Wilcox, a federal judge in Sydney, wrote in a summary of his judgment. 'The respondents have long known that the Kazaa system is widely used for the sharing of copyright files.'

The ruling culminates an 18-month legal battle between the recording industry and the Australian-based owners of Kazaa, who said they planned to appeal. The ruling also complemented a United States Supreme Court ruling in June that Internet file-sharing companies like Kazaa could be held liable for copyright piracy.

The Australian ruling was broadly consistent with a ruling by the United States Supreme Court in June that the makers of the file-sharing services Grokster and Morpheus could be held liable for contributing to the infringement of copyrights. The Supreme Court also rejected the argument that file-sharing services should be protected if they have some legitimate uses and sent the case back for trial to look at whether they encouraged users to steal copyrighted material.

The practical effect of both rulings is to increase pressure on the makers of file-sharing software, who at best face escalating legal fees to stay in business and at worst may face debilitating judgments for damages.

In the face of these pressures, some file-sharing services are looking for deals with the record industry through which they will charge fees for copyrighted songs. But such a move might prompt some users to turn to public noncommercial file-sharing software programs already freely available on the Web, which have no proprietors who could be sued."