Kazaa To Sue RIAA

Kazaa owner Sharman Networks can sue the RIAA and MPAA for copyright-infringement and breach of contract, says US District Judge Stephen Wilson.

Rejecting arguments by the labels and studios that Sharman's allegations were too vague, Wilson ruled that specificity isn't required at this stage of the case, says a Bloomberg News story here.

Among other things, the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) have been posting phony mp3 files on p2p networks as part of their bid to shut down p2p file sharing.

Sharman says the two Hollywood trade organs also used Kazaa software to track users and send threatening messages, "in a violation of Kazaa's terms for using the network," states the report.

Last year, Wilson decided the owners of two other commercial p2p programs, Grokster (Grokster Ltd) and Morpheus (Streamcast Networks Inc), couldn't control how people use their apps and so couldn't be held liable for piracy by third-party users.

He cited the 1984 Sony Betamax case where Hollywood tried to have VCRs banned. However, the Supreme Court ruled that use of new technology to infringe copyrights didn't justify such an action.

"Grokster and Streamcast are not significantly different from companies that sell home video recorders or copy machines, both of which can be and are used to infringe copyrights," Wilson wrote. The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals is slated to hear Hollywood's attempt to have his ruling overturned next month.

Wilson, "didn't rule on antitrust claims brought by Sharman, saying that portion of the lawsuit should be delayed until a federal appeals court rules on a related part of the case," says Bloomberg, adding:

"The antitrust claims 'aren't moving forward for now and at the end of the day, even if they do, Sharman won't be able to prove its case,' the RIAA said in a statement. MPAA spokeswoman Marta Grutka declined to comment.

Thanks P2Pnet.

Comments

[The_Foo_Fighter]

the RIAA sucks my ass, they should burn

[Rocker3829]

great news, I hope the RIAA burns in hell

[allwithinmyhand]

Fuck the RIAA. They dont support the "REAL" bands anyhow.

[horazonblade]

I didnt really care too much until they started leaking out the songs that played for 4 seconds then screached uncontrollably! Now they shall perish *shakes fist* You get em Kazaa!

[boxcarblink41]

was that them?!?!?^^^^

[sixstringtoker]

^ yep, i wonder how you get that job lol, posting bogus files on kazaa for a living hmmm

[turtleman]

those ***ers with their phony mp3s

[Phoenixblade]

that's messed up, phony mp3's.... all that's gonna do is annoy people, not make them stop.

Fight the power, Kazaa!!

[thm_05]

Kazaa is probably the next big medium of information unless it already is then it is too late for any franchise or company to claim or defect anything that Kazaa is worth...i guesssing around 128 billion dollars!

[Skugg]

may the RIAA BURN AND STOP BEING SO GAY

[Shroom]

It's about time Sharman stands up to the ***ers at the RIAA! I'm tired of having do download a song between 3 and 10 times in order to get a decent, non-messed up version.

[fattie210]

All this world has come to is "how much $$ can i make" it makes me sick. i can't afford to spend $20 there ight only be 2/3 good songs on the damn thing and if the rest suck i'm out $20 what they ought to do is play the entire cd on the radio.

till they do that i'm still gonna download music free. i wont pay for something and won't know what i'm getting.

[tool2003]

So its safe now to use kazaa?

[GuitarJunkie]

yeah its safe...but some of the songs go scrathy and make this spine shuddering noises...but hey...if that happens...you just download 20 files of the same song..keep one that works and delete the rest...Fuck you RIAA...maybe if albums were $2-5 then ill stop downloading...but im not spending 15-20 dollars for 3 songs that i like and 10 that i dont....besides how many rockstars are living on the streets cause everyone is downloading their album...thats what i thought
peace out ya'll

[darkangel666]

one point and one point only.

downloading is the f.ucking stupidest thing ever. it is putting the music industry out of business. less bands are being signed, because they're only siging guaranteed money makers. it is stealing, and if you like the bandwhay are you cheating the bands out of money? anyway, are you really too poor to buy an album?
and haven't u ppl heard of receipts? if you dont like teh album, take it back. f.ucking cheap a.ss holes.

[IAMIRONMAN]

FUCK THE RIAA im gettin my Kazaa back so I can relive the fun...

[skyfisher]

GOOD POINT darkangel666. Check out my electronica/rock band...www.thefallz.com.

[shinkyo00]

burn RIAA burn

[viking99]

Kazaa isn't the next big thing. The next big thing is the legal services (iTunes, Napster 2.0, etc.) that will let you pay by the song or pay a monthly fee for unlimited downloads. That way it's not stealing and it's a better deal for consumers. And it will make the bands with lots of great songs, not just one hit, the true moneymakers. They're still highly restrictive at this point, but that will inevitably change. The album, while it won't become extinct, at least not for a while, will cease to be the main medium of music. Which is fine by me. Albums aren't nearly as versatile. Anyway, this is just one guy's rambling prediction.

[Publicservices]

I got one of those "in a violation of Kazaa's terms for using the network," messages.
Die RIAA die!!

[jamjarohrah]

Go Kazaa!

[ibanez12306]

haven't u ppl heard of receipts? if you dont like teh album, take it back.

After the plastic around the cd has been opened, you can't take them back.

[bennybeast1]

Kill the RIAA!!!!

[eon_blue56]

downloading is the f.ucking stupidest thing ever. it is putting the music industry out of business.

actually i did a project on trends in recent cd sales for data management last year.

the direct reason for poor cd sales is that in recent years, the number of new releases has plummetted.

less new releases=less sales make sense?

as well, i found a direct relationship between cd prices and sales. Cd prices go up, sales go down. and recently cds are ***ing expensive.

as well, though cd sales have decreased, dvd sales have shot up. say someone buys the dvd version of an album, would they go out and by the cd for the exact same album?

dont trust the RIAA statistics, cd sales havent gone down at all, actually the average number of sales per new release has gone up

[metalmassacre]

yeah what are you paying twenty bucks for? the cd is about 2cents the plastic about 4cents the booklet about 10 cents and to pay everybody else like 1 million times twnety is ....2000o0 and lets say about only like 2/3 of the cd you listen to so it would be easier to lowere costs an lose money for a while then people start buying cds again so you riaa b.itches get more phucking money ill always download i dont have money for shit so i got a cable line so i can download every ***ing thing i ever wanted i work and the priuce of like 5 cds is what 100 dollars!!!!! what a cable line is like 50$ and you can get an unlimited amount of cds a month its waaaay worth it so i say farwell OH WEE OH DOWEE OH!!!!!!!!