Fileshare Software violates Copyright law

[kanshu]

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that developers of software violate federal copyright law when they provide computer users with the means to share music and movie files downloaded from the Internet, at least when the software companies take "affirmative steps to foster infringement."

In a decision announced by Justice David H. Souter, the Court said: "We hold that one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties" -- that is, computer users using free downloading software.

Full Link: a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/27jun20051200/www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/04pdf/04-480.pdf

[kanshu]

After the US decision, P2P suffered a loss in court in Australia, too:


SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian court ruled Monday 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 said in his ruling.

The decision follows a similar judgment in June in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that file-sharing networks such as Grokster can be held liable if their intent is to promote copyright infringement of music or movies.

"The message is very clear for P2P services: It's time to go legal," said John Kennedy, chief executive of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). "Today's judgment shows that Kazaa -- one of the biggest engines of copyright theft and the biggest brand name in music piracy worldwide -- is illegal."

Peer-to-peer (P2P) networks distribute data between users instead of relying on a central server.

Sharman Networks said it was disappointed with the judge's decision and 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.

"Inevitably, when you have successes it drives people elsewhere," Kennedy said. "We know we're never going to completely eradicate this kind of piracy, but the progress has been remarkable."

Read the full article at: money.cnn.com/2005/09/06/news/international/kazaa.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes

[Random Person]

I was just wondering - would the program called "LimeWire" be considered the same as Kazaa?

[Lazy kanshu]

If the program 'Limewire' does the same thing as Kazaa, i.e. have people share/distribute copyrighted material, then I guess that yes, it would go into the same cathegory.

[kanshu]

More news:

Hollywood Hopes to Reduce Movie Downloads
By GARY GENTILE, AP Business Writer
<snip>
"BitTorrent Inc. discourages the use of its technology for distributing films without a license to do so," Cohen said in the statement. "As such, we are pleased to work with the film industry to remove unauthorized content from bittorrent.com's search engine."

The deal will not prevent all illegal copies from being swapped using the BitTorrent technology. Cohen said during a news conference that even after links to files are removed from his search engine, some files could still be found using other means such as google.com.

The agreement means bittorrent.com will comply with procedures outlined in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Cohen's site will not prevent links to illegal files from being posted. But after a studio complains about the file, BitTorrent will notify the offending computer owner and remove the link from its search engine.
<snip>

Source: news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051123/ap_en_mo/downloading_movies

[kanshu not logged in]

And another update on the fileshare situation:
The operators of the Kazaa file-sharing service have until December 5 to update their software with a filter to screen out copyrighted material or else face the prospect of being shut down.

The filter will prevent users from trading files containing 3000 keywords selected by record companies, including the names of popular artists and songs. The filter can be updated every two weeks to include the latest and most popular releases, the International Federation for the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said in a statement.

Full story: news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20051128/tc_pcworld/123696