Australians, though stereotypically relaxed and beer-swilling, are a bunch of hard-asses when it comes to online file sharing. In a ruling that will surely serve as a precedent, the Australian Federal court ruled against Kazaa and a number of other file sharing networks in a copyright infringement suit. According to the decision, handed down by Justice Murray Wilcox, “[D]espite the fact that the Kazaa website contains warnings against the sharing of copyright files, and an end user licence agreement under which users are made to agree not to infringe copyright, it has long been obvious that those measures are ineffective to prevent, or even substantially to curtail, copyright infringements by users.” In addition to Kazaa, five other defendants were found guilty of copyright infringement, and four additional defendants were found innocent. In June, SPIN.com reported on a U.S. Supreme Court decision that echoed the sentiments of Justice Wilcox in Australia (read more).
Link:
Australian Federal Court Decision on P2P Sharing
