Dutch Supreme Court Rules Kazaa Legal
Case could set precedent, shielding peer-to-peer nets from suits over usage.
Joris Evers,
IDG News Service

In a fresh blow to the entertainment industry's campaign against file-sharing, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands has upheld a lower court's ruling that the creators of Kazaa can't be held liable for the copyright-infringing actions of users of the popular file-sharing application.

Dutch music rights body Buma/Stemra took its case against Kazaa BV to the high court last year, seeking to overturn a March 2002 ruling by the Amsterdam Appeals Court. That court found Kazaa not responsible for unauthorized downloading of copyright-protected music conducted using the software it developed and markets.

The Supreme Court of the Netherlands is the highest European body yet to rule on file-sharing software. In its decision Friday, the court cites international rulings including the 1984 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the so-called Betamax case. In Sony v Universal, the U.S. Supreme Court said device makers--in this case, VCR maker Sony--can't be held liable when people infringe copyright using Sony's equipment.

The Dutch decision also cites a Los Angeles federal judge's dismissal of a lawsuit against file-sharing services Grokster and StreamCast Networks last April. U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Wilson decided the two companies could not be held culpable for illegal file trading done over their networks.


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