Net News

Court Rules Against KaZaA

An Australian court ruled last month that users of the popular Internet file-sharing network KaZaA were breaching copyright, and ordered its owners to modify the software to prevent online music piracy.

Federal Court Judge Murray Wilcox ruled that KaZaA's Australian owner and developer, Sharman Networks, had not itself breached copyright but had encouraged millions of KaZaA users worldwide to do so.

“The respondents have long known that the KaZaA system is widely used for the sharing of copyright files,” Wilcox wrote in his ruling in a Sydney court.

The decision follows the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark ruling handed down this past June in MGM Studios v. Grokster that file-sharing networks, such as Grokster, can be held liable if their intent is to promote copyright infringement of music or movies.

Sharman Networks says it is disappointed with the judge's decision, and that it planned to appeal.

The consequences of the KaZaA ruling on illicit file sharing are uncertain. Previous legal crackdowns on P2P services have usually only served to send users to other networks.

Australian record companies ' including units of Universal Music, Sony BMG, EMI Group, Warner Music, and several independents ' will now seek damages for hundreds of millions of illicit music downloads at a later hearing.

Sharman Networks had defended the use of the Internet to download music tracks, telling the court that file sharing represented a revolution in the way music was distributed and sold.

It said it could not control the actions of an estimated 100 million worldwide users.

Judge Wilcox said KaZaA failed to use available technology such as key word filters to prevent copyright infringement because it would have been against its financial interest.

He said that KaZaA's “Join the Revolution” Web site campaign did not directly advocate sharing copyright files, but criticized record companies for opposing file sharing.

“It seems that KaZaA users are predominately young people, the effect of this Web page would be to encourage visitors to think it 'cool' to defy the record companies by ignoring constraints,” Wilcox wrote.

Wilcox ordered Sharman Networks to modify the KaZaA software with filters to protect copyright.

[Editor's Note: Reports are circulating that several P2P Web sites are ' or have ' shut down, possibly as a result of either the Grokster decision, a new round of "cease and desist" letters from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to file-sharing networks (not specifically named, but suspected to include eDonkey, Bearshare and WinMX), or a combination of the two. There is also a noticeable increase in the number of stories regarding P2P providers going 'legit.']

The Internet's key oversight agency approved a domain name for the Catalan language last month while deferring final action on creating a red-light district on the Internet through a “.xxx” suffix.

Creating the “.cat” suffix for individuals, organizations and companies that promote the Catalan language and culture was relatively uncontroversial. Though the language is spoken largely in certain regions of Spain, backers say a domain name could unify Catalan speakers who live in France, Italy, Andorra and elsewhere. The name could begin appearing in use next year.

As for “.xxx,” the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) deferred final approval for the second time in as many months.

The board decided to seek changes to a proposed contract with ICM Registry Inc., the Jupiter, FL, company that would run the domain name for voluntary use by the adult entertainment industry. No details were immediately available on the changes sought.

The “.xxx” domain has met with opposition from conservative groups and some pornography Web sites, and ICANN postponed a final decision in August after the U.S. government stepped in just days before a scheduled meeting to underscore objections it had received. ICANN had given a preliminary OK in June.

ICM argues the domain would help the $12 billion online porn industry clean up its act. Those using the domain would have to abide by yet-to-be-written rules designed to bar such trickery as spamming and malicious scripts. ICM would charge $60 per name.

Anti-porn advocates, however, countered that sites would be free to keep their current “.com” address, in effect making porn more easily accessible by creating yet another channel to house it.

The anti-porn advocates say such a domain name would legitimize adult sites, which two of every five Internet users visited in April, according to tracking by comScore Media Metrix.

Many porn sites also objected, fearing that such a domain would pave the way for governments ' the United States or repressive regimes abroad ' or even private industry to filter speech that is protected here under the First Amendment.

Although ICANN was to consider the “.asia” domain during the recent teleconference board meeting, it took no action on establishing a unified domain for the Asia-Pacific community.

Court Rules Against KaZaA

An Australian court ruled last month that users of the popular Internet file-sharing network KaZaA were breaching copyright, and ordered its owners to modify the software to prevent online music piracy.

Federal Court Judge Murray Wilcox ruled that KaZaA's Australian owner and developer, Sharman Networks, had not itself breached copyright but had encouraged millions of KaZaA users worldwide to do so.

“The respondents have long known that the KaZaA system is widely used for the sharing of copyright files,” Wilcox wrote in his ruling in a Sydney court.

The decision follows the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark ruling handed down this past June in MGM Studios v. Grokster that file-sharing networks, such as Grokster, can be held liable if their intent is to promote copyright infringement of music or movies.

Sharman Networks says it is disappointed with the judge's decision, and that it planned to appeal.

The consequences of the KaZaA ruling on illicit file sharing are uncertain. Previous legal crackdowns on P2P services have usually only served to send users to other networks.

Australian record companies ' including units of Universal Music, Sony BMG, EMI Group, Warner Music, and several independents ' will now seek damages for hundreds of millions of illicit music downloads at a later hearing.

Sharman Networks had defended the use of the Internet to download music tracks, telling the court that file sharing represented a revolution in the way music was distributed and sold.

It said it could not control the actions of an estimated 100 million worldwide users.

Judge Wilcox said KaZaA failed to use available technology such as key word filters to prevent copyright infringement because it would have been against its financial interest.

He said that KaZaA's “Join the Revolution” Web site campaign did not directly advocate sharing copyright files, but criticized record companies for opposing file sharing.

“It seems that KaZaA users are predominately young people, the effect of this Web page would be to encourage visitors to think it 'cool' to defy the record companies by ignoring constraints,” Wilcox wrote.

Wilcox ordered Sharman Networks to modify the KaZaA software with filters to protect copyright.

[Editor's Note: Reports are circulating that several P2P Web sites are ' or have ' shut down, possibly as a result of either the Grokster decision, a new round of "cease and desist" letters from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to file-sharing networks (not specifically named, but suspected to include eDonkey, Bearshare and WinMX), or a combination of the two. There is also a noticeable increase in the number of stories regarding P2P providers going 'legit.']

The Internet's key oversight agency approved a domain name for the Catalan language last month while deferring final action on creating a red-light district on the Internet through a “.xxx” suffix.

Creating the “.cat” suffix for individuals, organizations and companies that promote the Catalan language and culture was relatively uncontroversial. Though the language is spoken largely in certain regions of Spain, backers say a domain name could unify Catalan speakers who live in France, Italy, Andorra and elsewhere. The name could begin appearing in use next year.

As for “.xxx,” the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) deferred final approval for the second time in as many months.

The board decided to seek changes to a proposed contract with ICM Registry Inc., the Jupiter, FL, company that would run the domain name for voluntary use by the adult entertainment industry. No details were immediately available on the changes sought.

The “.xxx” domain has met with opposition from conservative groups and some pornography Web sites, and ICANN postponed a final decision in August after the U.S. government stepped in just days before a scheduled meeting to underscore objections it had received. ICANN had given a preliminary OK in June.

ICM argues the domain would help the $12 billion online porn industry clean up its act. Those using the domain would have to abide by yet-to-be-written rules designed to bar such trickery as spamming and malicious scripts. ICM would charge $60 per name.

Anti-porn advocates, however, countered that sites would be free to keep their current “.com” address, in effect making porn more easily accessible by creating yet another channel to house it.

The anti-porn advocates say such a domain name would legitimize adult sites, which two of every five Internet users visited in April, according to tracking by comScore Media Metrix.

Many porn sites also objected, fearing that such a domain would pave the way for governments ' the United States or repressive regimes abroad ' or even private industry to filter speech that is protected here under the First Amendment.

Although ICANN was to consider the “.asia” domain during the recent teleconference board meeting, it took no action on establishing a unified domain for the Asia-Pacific community.