Kazaa Settles with Record Labels for $100,000,000

That's a lot of zeros

http://www.betanews.com/article/Kazaa_Owner_Settles_with_Record_Labels/1154012470
from WinCustomize Forums
Sharman Networks, the company behind the Kazaa P2P program have finally reached a settlement with the record industry.  The deal has the company paying out more than $100 million to the labels in exchange for all pending litigation to be dropped.

While the record labels pushed this settlement as a victory over P2P, and tried to cast Sharman Networks in a bad light, Sharman instead pointed out that this settlement actually legitimizes P2P as a viable download medium for digital content.

The question now remains of if this settlement is too little too late for the beleaguered company/file sharing network, or if it will be the shot in the arm it needs to make a comeback.

3,496 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
i can't see this doing anything to help kazaa. Losing a hundred million is never a win. It will become a pay for use service, far behind itunes, napster, msn, and urge. P2P sharing of legitimate tracks? how many of those will be floating around, i wonder? I can only see kazaa p2p surviving if it chose to cater only to independents, and those labels which sign up for distrubution. Kazaa's hopes then lie in advertising or promotions.

Frankly though it doesn't matter if they distribute free candy - i'll never put that garbage on my system again.
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
So where did Sharman Networks happen to have a spare 100,000,000 just sitting around? I thought Kazaa was long dead except for users who didn't know better. Apparently not. Obviously there is a lot of money to be made in providing the means for people to "borrow" the creations of others.
Star Control: Origins
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Obviously there is a lot of money to be made in providing the means for people to "borrow" the creations of others.

Yep....and till this settlement the legitimate owners of the product never saw a penny of that 'profit'...

Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Though I certainly wouldn't expect the RIAA to be too generous in distributing that $100M to the artists. After all, their theft is perfectly legal.
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
So where did Sharman Networks happen to have a spare 100,000,000 just sitting around?


Um, I guess no one has put two and two together on this. The same guys who created Kazaa also created and just sold Skype to Ebay for $2.4 BILLION. So effectively, Ebay just paid off Kazaa's lawsuit and I sure there is plenty left to settle with the MPAA. Smoooooooooooooooooooth.
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
To me this whole mess is rather like sueing the automobile manufacturers for creating cars that can exceed the speed limit instead of finding the drivers at fault for speeding. I keep wondering when the judicial system or the powers that create the laws around the world will wake up to the fact that punishing someone for creating anything that can be misused is plain stupid.

Let's start sueing restaurants, fast food services, supermarkets and farmers for growing and selling foods that can make us fat!

Makes as much sense....
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Actually, McDonald's has been sued for just that.
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Fast Track, Kazza, Morpheus and Skype: Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis...all tied together in 'organized crime' and 'racketeering'... check out this...it's very interesting...
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20060327/0256249.shtml
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Actually, McDonald's has been sued for just that.


a number of times, actually. fortionately they keep getting thrown out.. but, it was that way with ciggerettes, once, too. Now they get sued left and right for lotta $.