In what has to be one of the most stupid and disappointing decisions an Australian court has ever made, in my opinion up there with the “Yes means No” comment made by an Australian judge years ago – Kazaa (Sharman Networks and Co) have been found guilty of providing a platform to share illgeal files.
The court is yet to rule on damages against the owners and creaters of the software, and it made this statement “[the purpose of the kazaa software] would be to encourage visitors to think it ‘cool’ to defy the record companies by ignoring copyright constraints”. In typical fashion the recording industry made these statements
“This court order … will have a worldwide impact not only on Kazaa but on every other illegal peer-to-peer business,” he said. “If you‘re out there and you‘re ripping off music without permission and without payment, you should sit up and take notice. Now‘s the time to go legal or get out of the business before another court does what‘s happened to Kazaa today.”
“It‘s a great day for artists. It‘s a great day for anyone who wants to make a living from music.”
One of the most upsetting things about this is that time after time – many many people and hard statistics have shown that there has been no impact on music and dvd sales. They have infact increased over the years.
I am so amazingly disappointed at the stupidity of the Australian legal system, and now I am quite concerned if I ever have to be effected by it.
