NEWS: Kazza network to fold

source from http://www.vnunet.com/News/1132038

Kazaa network to fold
By James Middleton [23-05-2002]
Crippling legal fees prompt surrender
File sharing network Kazaa is to fold after being beaten by high legal fees in a copyright infringement case brought against it by major film studios and record labels.
Although the company maintains that it has not violated any copyright laws by allowing users to share files over its service, it looks like Kazaa, owned by Sharman Networks, is set to go the way of its predecessor, Napster.

Kazaa's lawyers have said that the company can no longer afford the ongoing legal fees in the case and will be forced to accept a default judgement, which may leave it responsible for damages in the region of millions.

The San Francisco Chronicle quoted Kazaa's lawyers as saying that the plaintiffs had used legal hardball tactics to "run Kazaa out of business".

"Plaintiffs have engaged in Rambo-style litigation," they said. "Kazaa has now asked for its terms of surrender."

However, Kazaa's collapse is not expected to kill the network, or the trading activity on it.

There are also rumours that Sharman Networks has already sold the Kazaa network to another company that has so far avoided the wrath of the music and picture industries.

The Kazaa network may have been more tempting to prospective buyers after the activation of Altnet on 20 May, which is the piggy back network installed with the Kazaa client and which runs alongside the Kazaa network.


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Preep

first Napster, then iMesh, then KazaA, now it's back to Imesh and whois next?
They can keep shutting down file sharing programs till they drop dead, a new one will rise again and others will follow. Legal battles can take forever and I don't think the motion picture industry will keep on coughing up the money.

Okay here is a question. How exactly does the server end of kazaa operate. Does the server just establish a connection to a ring type network between the clients and then disconnect, or does the server stay connected during the entire search and download process? I would think that if the server just connected you to the clients and disconnected itself, how could they be held liable for what others use it for? I mean, ICQ does the basic same thing, but gets away with it. I mean we could even just file share through e-mail servers, are they the next to be shutdown?

yeah but the company provides eh facilities and programs, to connect everyone together.
It was the same as napster, they didnt break the law, it was the users sharing the files,but it made them liable for the "stuff" that was being ripped off.