The legitimacy of KaZaA has not been put to the test in American courts, where Grokster (which operates on the same FastTrack network as KaZaA) and Morpheus (a Gnutella program) have been cleared to continue operating by trial and appeal courts. KaZaA is on the stand in Australia, at the start of a trial expected to last three weeks. In opening statements, lawyers for the plaintiffs (major record labels) characterized KaZaA as the largest music piracy system ever created, with 100-million users sharing three-billion music files per month. How those figures were determined is a mystery, one that might go unqueried by the court. But no matter. KaZaA is big, if fading, and the real question facing this court is whether its non-infringing uses are substantial enough to legitimize its operation. In American courts, the Betamax ruling of 1984 protects file-sharing companies today, a fact that does not apply to non-American courts.
1. What comes around, goes around. It's just that sharing goes hi-tech. They wouldn't complain if sharing of stuff was limited to the old way like with your neighbor across the street or in the office.
Posted at 5:58AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Andrei