Kazaa Execs Face Contempt Charges

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

December 15, 2005, 1:15 PM

Contempt of court proceedings against Kazaa owner Sharman Networks began Thursday in an Australian federal court in Sydney, with a judge suggesting that it would not be out of the realm of possibility that jail time could be doled out to Sharman executives.

The Australian music industry dragged Sharman back into court, accusing it of failing to follow a September 5 ruling that ordered it to prevent Australian users from committing piracy on its network. Sharman disagrees with that assessment, pointing to the fact that it was blocking users from the country through IP-filtering technology.

Specifically targeted in the contempt of court motion is Sharman Networks chief Nikki Hemming and Altnet chief Kevin Bermeister. The motion also lists companies Sharman Networks, LEF Interactive, Altnet and Brilliant Digital Entertainment as defendants.

Justice Murray Wilcox said that jail time for contempt of court proceedings is rare, and he had never actually thrown someone in jail for it, only threatened to.

Record industry lawyers told the court that they would not push for jail time, but would ask for some kind of punishment for the contempt charges, saying Kazaa's blocking technology was "ineffective."

Sharman's lawyers claimed the filters previously agreed upon could not be completed in time, thus the company decided to remove Australian access from the Kazaa network altogether. Lawyers argued that the action by Sharman had the same effect, and still complied with the court order to end piracy on its network in Australia.

However, in the end, it will be Wilcox who decides if Kazaa is in contempt of court. "This motion is going to raise the matter of whether there is compliance or not," Wilcox said.

A hearing on the motion will occur January 30.