Kazaa settles law suits

A $100 million settlement has just been agreed that should leave Skype boss, Niklas Zennstrom, free to visit the USA again.

In addition to the payment, Kazaa, which is owned by Sydney-based Sharman Networks, has agreed to introduce a 'legitimate' music service and stop the 'illegal' distribution of copyrighted files by its users. The Kazaa service was actually founded by Zennstrom, along with pal with Janus Friis.

Zennstrom then turned P2P on its head to create Skype - the popular VoIP telephony service, now owned by eBay.

The settlement finally resolves lawsuits filed by Universal Music, Sony BMG, EMI and Warner Music Group in both the USA and Australia. Similar P2P sharing networks Grokster and Napster were closed down by the wrath of the music industry.

Sharman Networks had previously lost court rulings in Australia which said that Kazaa was guilty of authorising widespread copyright infringement. In the USA, Kazaa was accused of setting up its system with the 'unmistakable' goal of encouraging copyright infringement.

While the settlement is a clear win for music multi-nationals, it should also free Zennstrom to visit the USA as his part in founding Kazaa should no longer warrant his arrest.

Unless suspected of being a terrorist in which case he could be held without trial, of course. µ

L'INQ
Bloomberg