US District Judge Stephen Wilson looks likely to give US music and film companies the right to sue the parent company of file-swapping service Kazaa under US copyright laws, even though they’re based in Australia. “I would be inclined to find there's jurisdiction against Sharman," Wilson said, “because so many Californians took advantage of the service”.
Kazaa’s owners are pleading a similar case to Napster – that they cannot be held responsible if the public use their file swapping facilities for non-legitimate reasons. But the thought of defending that line in the US courts where Napster met its demise can’t be good news.
After the judges comments prosecution lawyer Carey Ramos added: "It shows you cannot escape US justice by setting up shop outside the United States."