CNN reported in January that the owners of KaZaA, a free file-sharing software, filed a countersuit last week in response to the copyright-infringement suit brought on by various recording labels and movie studios.
The U.S. District Court ruled Sharman Networks Ltd., the owners of KaZaA, are subject to U.S. copyright laws despite the company being an Australian firm based in the South Pacific. The court found that the software was heavily used in California and said that the company’s actions allegedly contribute to commercial piracy in the United States.
Sharman’s countersuit came after attempts to get the case dismissed due to the company’s geographic location.
The company claims that the recording and movie studios are responsible for copyright misuse, monopolization and deceptive acts and practices.
KaZaA was blocked from the SMU network last year because of the ethical issues it raises with potential copyright-infringement and the possibility it lends to computer hacking.
George Chrisman, associate vice president of Information Technology Services, wrote a release for the ITS Web site about how KaZaA uses storage space and Internet access to get content from the user’s hard drive and distributes it for commercial gain, such as online advertising.
Victoria Oates, a first-year business and cinema/television double major, used KaZaA until she got a virus on her hard drive from it six months ago.
“I had to basically erase my hard drive and re-install everything,” Oates said.
Oates, who downloaded a few songs each week and eventually two movies, still buys CDs and DVDs. But she said sometimes she could not wait until the movies were released. She said she would also hear a song on the radio and want to listen to it again.
Oates was not aware that KaZaA used storage space on users’ hard drives.
“I probably would not have [used the software],” she said. “It’s an invasion of privacy.”
Matt Meltzer, a first year electrical engineering major, said he found KaZaA files in unexpected places on his computer. After he used the program, he would go in and delete the unwanted files from his hard drive.
Meltzer said he used the software to decide whether or not to buy a CD. If there were at least three songs he liked, he would buy the CD.
David Sossaman, a sophomore computer science major, also said he used KaZaA to preview CDs. While he is a firm believer in supporting music artists, he said he does not spend money on music he dislikes.
