Petteri Pyyny
9 Jul 2002 14:14
Recording and movie industry asked U.S. court to allow adding KaZaA's current owner, Vanuatu-based Sharman Networks, to the lawsuit that they're taking against other FastTrack companies. Judge granted the permission yesterday.
RIAA and MPAA sued three companies who used to run FastTrack-based P2P network back in October, 2001. Original lawsuit, filed in the U.S., is against American StreamCast Networks, Carribbean-based Grokster and Dutch KaZaA BV. Since then, KaZaA BV has sold its assets to Sharman Networks and ceased its operations and StreamCast Networks has, after a huge fuss, changed from using the FastTrack technology to open Gnutella P2P network.
Obviously, it is hard to understand how American court could rule against foreign companies who don't operate in U.S. soil, but if the companies are willing to defend themselves in the court, it can easily drain their financial resources.