Kazaa software a piracy engine

[KiwiCoromandel]

Kazaa software a piracy engine, say record companies

By Rob O'Neill and Mike Barton

November 30, 2004

The operators of the Kazaa file-sharing network were accused of enabling music piracy on an unprecedented scale as record companies launched a court fight to have the song-swapping system declared illegal.

In a day-long opening argument, Tony Bannon, SC, for five big record companies, began by describing the Kazaa software as "an engine of copyright piracy to the extent never before seen".

He was speaking in the Federal Court in Sydney at the opening of a trial over the legality of distributing Kazaa software.

Mr Bannon said Kazaa - which had 100 million users worldwide, sharing 3 billion music files a month - was promoted by the company as "the world's most popular file-sharing system". But its profits did not go to the record companies or artists. "The vast audience only exists because of the rampant copyright-infringing activity," he said.

The five companies behind the lawsuit - Universal, EMI, Sony BMG and Warner and Festival Mushroom - argue the company is fully aware that its users are violating copyright, but have taken no measures to stop it.

Mr Bannon told the court that communications between Kazaa executives suggested it was possible to stop the trade and that the company had made a deliberate decision to do nothing.

"Far from inhibiting infringements, they are actually encouraging them," he said. "It's all a charade."

Kazaa's maker, Sharman Networks, and its fellow respondents will today argue that development and distribution of the software is not an infringement of copyright.

The trial, before Justice Murray Wilcox, is expected to last three weeks.....

Edited November 30, 2004 by kiwibank