Kazaa declared violator of copyright laws by Australian Courts

Kazaa declared violator of copyright laws by Australian Courts

An Australian court has declared that the operator of Kazaa violated the copyright laws by not preventing the users to share digitally pirated content on their servers. This P2P network was at one time the most popular online file sharing utility with millions of users logged on to their networks at any given time. The courts have given the company two months time to shut down their networks enabling users to share files.

The ruling finds the owners of the Kazaa networks, Sharman Networks guilty of copyright violation charges. The Sydney federal judge also found that a Sharman partner, Altnet, violated Australian copyright law. Experts believe that this decision of the court just might be the last straw in the demise of this famed software.

Napster was the first popular P2P application that made it big on the internet. However, it faced the similar problems with users sharing digitally copyrighted material on it leading to legal hassles for the company. It was also banned by the courts leading to a brand new legitimate avatar which is now competing with Apple iTunes to provide digital music download service for a price.

Sharman on their part have expressed disappointment on the ruling and have said they would appeal against the ruling.