Reports are calling the financial settlement with the MPAA “substantial” and the conclusion of a three-year legal battle that has followed Sharman Networks all over the world.
The MPAA and the RIAA have doggedly pursued Sharman in several different countries over allegations that its Kazaa peer-to-peer services was making copyrighted content illegally available over the Internet. Their legal argument all along was that Sharman had the ability to prevent its users from violating copyrights.
The settlement requires Sharman to pay copyright penalties to Universal Music, Sony BMG, EMI and Warner Music.
Mitch Bainwol, head of the Washington-based Recording Industry Association of America, hailed the victory against Sharman as a major win against online piracy.
Similar anti-piracy suits were settled recently with Streamcast, the maker of P2P service Morpheus.
In addition to the settlement, Sharman Network’s has said that going forward, it will secure licensing deals with all entertainment companies that have copyright claims on the music and movies it provides through its Kazaa service.
Sharman also agreed to "use all reasonable means" to discourage online piracy and to take measures to make sure that Kazaa is no longer perceived as a vehicle for obtaining free content online.
Kazaa was created by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, the inventors of VoiP company Skype, who sold the company to Sharman in 2001 after growing tired of repeated legal attacks over Kazaa’s involvement in pirating content over the Internet.
