Sharman’s Oz assets frozen
p2pnet.net News:- Could this be the true beginning of the end for Sharman Networks and, by implication, associates Brilliant Digital Entertainment and Altnet?
“The assets of Sharman Networks, the maker of the Kazaa peer-to-peer software, have been frozen pending the outcome of a lawsuit brought against the software-maker by the recording industry,” says Wired News.
“The personal assets of Sharman’s directors, including their homes, have also been frozen following the latest legal push. Australia’s Federal Court heard the music industry’s motion in Sydney on Friday. The assets of Altnet, which licenses technology to Sharman and is a co-respondent in the action brought against Sharman, have also been affected.”
Altnet recently said “significant independent label customers” who are now involved in a fund, “where they will share the revenue generated from advertising that appears in the user interface of popular Peer to Peer applications”.
Kazaa, in other words.
But Altnet president Lee Jaffe told Wired the asset freeze is “nothing more than an attempt by the major record labels to choke off a revenue stream destined for the cartel’s smaller rivals”.
However, Michael Speck, outgoing director of Big Music’s ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) pseudo-cop agency, says it’s more to do with preserving the assets of the Kazaa case respondents, states Wired.
Sharman ceo Nikki Hemming recently sold her house to Sharman’s accountant for a profit, only 12 months after she bought it, Speck said, adding that all parties voluntarily agreed to having their assets restricted and that directors will be stopped from transferring personal and business assets offshore before March 22, when Justice Murray Wilcox, who’s hearing the case, returns from vacation.
The story also points out that if the Big Music cartel’s Oz suit is successful, the assets may be awarded as damages to the music industry.
p2pnet readers will be hearing from ex-ARIA in-house lawyer and former senior legal officer at the Australian Communications Authority Alex Malik when the trial starts up again.
Something you think we should know? tips[at]p2pnet.net
March 5th, 2005 at 9:55 pm
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/3068459
“SYDNEY, Australia â A court refused today to grant a request by the Australian recording industry to force owners of the file-swapping giant Kazaa to disclose their assets pending a decision in a landmark music piracy case”
March 6th, 2005 at 6:32 am
why revel in big music’s hype…if the indie labels want to find ways to coexit with p2p why condemn them. as far as i can tell altnet doesn’t distribute anything that isn’t licensed so it’s hard to imagine any court objecting…..
March 6th, 2005 at 6:37 am
if kazaa and other p2p networks start to share their ad revenue with independent labels and artists it will be the begining of the end for the 4 major label cartel….
March 6th, 2005 at 2:43 pm
your right but leave kazaa out of it. but wait. fanning and rosso are now doing the other thing so why not make a deal with kazaa that started the trouble in the first place?
March 6th, 2005 at 10:26 pm
There was a lawyer running around telling this fib on the day. The matter is set down for hearing in front of the trial judge…wonder if the lawyer or her clients will be giving evidence or looking for another way of avoiding the inevitable
March 7th, 2005 at 2:29 am
fuck kazaa, their p2p network has always sucked