Thursday, July 27, 2006

Kazaa, Record Industry Settles Lawsuits For $100M

Sharman Networks, maker of the popular peer-to-peer file sharing software Kazaa, has agreed to pay over $100M in a legal settlement with the recording industry. The settlement calls for Kazaa to pay the settlement to companies that took the legal action to stop copyright infringement on Kazaa, and for Kazaa to introduce filtering technology to prevent distribution of copyrighted files. Sharman Networks said in a statement that the firm would work together with content proivders to play a role in the growing market for licensed online distribution and authorized exchange of copyrighted content, using its peer-to-peer technology. The settlement follows successful lawsuits by the recording industry against Grokster and Streamcast, two other peer-to-peer networks known for widespread swapping of pirated music and files.

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