A Court Has Ordered Kazaa to Install Keyword Filter

29 November 2005

A Court Has Ordered Kazaa to Install Keyword Filter

The owners of the Kazaa peer to peer filesharing program have been allowed until 05 December 2005
to modify the Kazaa software so that it includes a filter to screen out all copyright protected
material. If the Kazaa service does not have a filter by the deadline it faces the prospect of
being shut down.

The filter will prevent users from trading files containing any of 3,000 keywords selected by
record companies, including the names of popular artists and songs. The filter can be updated
every two weeks to include the latest and most popular releases, the International Federation for
the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said in a statement.

The Court Order was issued on Thursday by Justice Murray Wilcox of the Federal Court of Australia,
in Sydney, as part of the recording industry's ongoing case against Kazaa operator Sharman
Networks. It follows a September ruling in favour of the recording industry that found that Kazaa
has been used to infringe copyrights on a global scale.

Judge Wilcox has show that he is reluctant to shut the Kazaa service down. He initially gave
Sharman Networks two months to come up with a way to prevent works from being traded illegally on
its network, and then later granted a one-month extension, to 05 December 2005.

The claim against Kazaa was filed by the Australian subsidiaries of most of the big recording
labels, including Universal Music, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and EMI.

Lawdit Solicitors Limited