Kazaa faulted for users’ crimes

While you continue downloading those Dizzee Rascal MP3s from your beloved Kazaa, across the world, the battle over the P2P (peer-to-peer) program continues.

A judge issued the Australian Recording Industry Association affiliate Music Industry Piracy Investigations (MIPI) an order allowing them to raid the offices of Kazaa parent Sharman, Brilliant Digital Entertainment, the homes of CEOs and presidents of both companies, three universities and four Internet service providers.

The Feb. 5 order allowed MIPI to gather documents and electronic evidence to aid in their case against the popular file-sharing program. Following the raids, Sharman filed for the case to be suspended, pending judgment on their suit in the U.S. and the universities also sought to challenge the order in court. Though the orders were legally obtained, issuing justice Murray Wilcox later expressed his intent to reexamine MIPI’s case.

“I’m not saying I was misled, but I do have the feeling that there was a lot more to the story than I was told,” Wilcox commented in court this month.

Sharman maintained that the actions were a direct attempt to discredit and eradicate their technology, while the recording industry claims that they are only taking legitimate actions to end copyright infringement and that the software company should be responsible for the actions of its users.

“It’s no different than the Xerox Corp., when students use their copiers and they know that students use them to make photocopies of protected works,” said David Casselman, Sharman’s U.S. legal representative. “Is the university liable if they know this?”