http://www.go2net.com/headlines/ap/financial/D813DTO80.html
03/04/2004 02:46:41 EST
Judge Rejects Motion by Kazaa Owners
By MIKE CORDER
Associated Press Writer

A Federal Court judge Thursday rejected an application by Kazaa's owners that would have excluded evidence seized in a series of court-sanctioned raids last month from use in legal proceedings aimed at shutting down the file-swapping giant.
"Today is a total victory for the copyright owners," declared Michael Speck, a former police detective who is now general manager of Music Industry Piracy Investigations, a group major Australian record labels established to target copyright infringers. "It should send a clear message to Kazaa that it's time to get on with the case."

Lawyers for Kazaa's Sydney-based owner Sharman Networks, said they wanted to study the 23-page ruling before commenting. An appeal is possible.

Judge Murray Wilcox also rejected an application to suspend the Australian litigation until there is a verdict in a similar case currently before a U.S. court.

The Australian case is due back in court March 23.

Although Wilcox rejected Sharman's application, he also did not allow the music industry unfettered access to the evidence - including computer files and other data - gathered in the raids at Sharman and other companies with links to Kazaa. The home of Kazaa chief executive Nikki Hemming also was raided.

Instead, Wilcox suggested Sharman and the record industry investigators meet to discuss access to the evidence. If they fail to agree on how that should happen, Wilcox said he would make a further ruling.

The raids are a rarely used power that can be granted to litigants in Australian civil cases.

Kazaa software allows users to swap music, movies and other computer files.

Last month, Kazaa lawyer Rod Dorman called the copyright infringement suit a "desperate act of an industry that is losing the litigation war."

Kazaa already has one major court victory under its belt.

In December, the Dutch Supreme Court ruled that Kazaa's Netherlands division cannot be held liable for copyright infringement of music or movies swapped using its free software.

Also, a three-judge panel in Pasadena, Calif., is currently hearing an appeal from entertainment companies that want to overturn a landmark ruling last April that cleared two companies of liability for users who swap files using their software.

Sharman was not part of that ruling, but the outcome of the appeal is expected to affect the entertainment companies' separate U.S. case against Sharman.

great article Ilikethissite!

Even if Kazaa went out of business tomorrow...the FastTrack software is out there and the filesharing would continue....

yes this is a setback for kazaa but i really don't t think in long run it will hurt fasttrack that the much. after all kazaa was just the brandname sharman just handled the day to day bussness of kazaa they did not own the fasttrack protocal jolted does I am sure sharman really does not have muck knowlodge on how the network actually works

actually I don't see this as a setback. the judge was just ruling on the law. he felt the evidence was admissible. unless there's something incrimidating that Sharman has been keeping secret all this time why should they worry? besides they can just move their operations out of australia.

I would'nt use Kazaa, Morpheus, or any of them. However i do use a good open source client called DC ++. Which instead of connecting to millions of users, you share with say 350 users. who have to have a share which is appropriate to the rules of the hub. Each Hub is moderated by operators. a bit like this site i guess. It cuts out dodgy files. IE Underage porn.

Well, there are many other p2p apps besides Kazaa. And of course there are those Russian sites (with more like them to follow).

The music wars shall continue ........

The problem with Directconnect is generally you have to be sharing a lot of files, if I'm not mistaken on how it works. While I have nothing against filtering out leechers, I think a lot of us tend to forget that some people are still on dial-up and sharing 2.5 GB would be very taxing to their connection.

thanks Code! i'm glad to hear that the end is not the end for our beloved p2p's! i was very saddened by this breaking news.