More pop court type news. Record label executives in Australia are claiming that the bosses of Kazaa company Sharman Networks were in contempt of court when they closed down access to their P2P software in Australia earlier this month.
As previously reported, Sharman took the measure in response to a court order that ruled they must introduce a filtering system that stops Kazaa users from sharing copyrighted music via their system. The filter would block any files containing certain words, as chosen by the record labels. But instead of introducing the filter, Kazaa simply closed down its Australian site and advised anyone in Australia with the P2P software on their PC not to use it.
The record labels argue this was a cynical move by Sharman. Despite the warning, existing Australian Kazaa users can and probably will carry on using the software, albeit at their own risk. So the only loss to Sharman is any potentially new subscribers who might have downloaded their software after 5 December. This is a relatively small number of people in the global picture, and the loss is a small price to pay in order to avoid having to limit the Kazaa service (by introducing the filter) for the companies existing subscriber base.
But Sharman argue that their action had the same result as what the court desired, so therefore they are not in contempt. In a statement issued this week they said: "What we did in lieu of implementing the filter was to take down the availability of this program in Australia completely. We say that that action involves obedience to the injunction and that is the issue on the contempt application."
An Australian judge wouldn't be drawn on the issue at a preliminary hearing yesterday. The labels have begun contempt proceedings which should go to court on 30 Jan.