Kazaa able to stop piracy, court told

SYDNEY - A Sydney internet software company that can ban users who access child pornography should also be able to track music that is illegally downloaded, a court was told.

In the Federal Court in Sydney yesterday, a group of major record companies is seeking to prove that the owners of Kazaa - the world's most popular internet file-sharing software - are liable.

Kazaa allows users to swap digital music files over the internet, with 100 million users worldwide sharing three billion music files a month.

But the record labels that license the music claim Kazaa is the biggest music piracy system ever seen.

They are suing Sydney-based Sharman Networks, which develops and distributes the software, for copyright infringement.

Lawyers for the labels, including Universal, EMI, Sony BMG and Warner and Festival Mushroom, contend Sharman was fully aware that Kazaa was used to download unlicensed music.

Counsel Tony Bannon said yesterday that Kazaa's website carried a warning which stated that anyone using the software to download child pornography would be disconnected from their system.

"If at any time Kazaa finds that you are using Kazaa to collect or distribute child pornography or other obscene material, [the software company] reserves the right to permanently bar you and your computers from accessing Kazaa and other Kazaa services," he told the court.

Bannon said Sharman Networks had claimed it could not stop users swapping copyright protected files, but the child pornography warning showed this was not true.

" ... you are saying to the world community that you do have no tolerance to child pornography ... and you can terminate Kazaa users if they breach that tolerance policy".

Therefore, it would also be possible for the company to terminate the accounts of those who infringed copyright, Bannon said.

Counsel for Sharman Networks, Tony Meagher, said the music files on a Kazaa user's computer were not necessarily from Kazaa. "Hacker" programs could also be responsible.

He said most of Kazaa's users came from the United States. Australian users made up only about 2 per cent of their total traffic.

- AAP