Song-sharing

Copyright-the exclusive right to make copies, license, and otherwise exploit a literary, musical, or artistic work, whether printed, audio, video, etc.: works granted such right by law on or after January 1, 1978, are protected for the lifetime of the author or creator and for a period of 50 years after his or her death. [1]

*Note, this case is from October 26, 2004

An Australian song-sharing website offered a board of free music downloads. This site was one of the biggest copyright cases in the world. Many international record companies have brought a $500 million lawsuit against the man who owned the site that offered links to downloadable songs.

Will this case end music piracy?
No I don’t think it will, because there are so many different downloading sites out there, like LimeWire and Kazaa. The sites have so many illegal downloads; it would cause so much drama in this world. People rely on these sites to listen to music. Some people can’t afford to buy from iTunes, or to go out and buy Cd’s so this makes it all easier.

This website wasn’t only available in Australia; it was available worldwide and was represented as one of the main sources of infringing copies of music recordings on the internet.
“The website offered a "smorgasbord of sound recordings" to the seven million individual users who visited the site each year. There were 191 million hits and more than 136 million files requested between November 2002 and October 2003” [2]

The lawyer said the website was only a search engine and was successful because it provided a “seamless transaction” by using hyperlinks. There was also a catalogue of MP3’s that could be downloaded by a click of a button.

"There are no millions of dollars stashed away anywhere, no secret garages full of Porsches and Ferraris," [3] Tony Morris, the lawyer called the legal action “absurd” and that his client had done nothing to break the copyright law. "All he has done is put in a set of pointers which link to websites around the world," Morris said. [4]

The website, set up in 1998, and was shut down late last year. “The action, launched in October 2003, is being brought by six Australian companies, including Sony and Universal, and 25 international companies.” [5] The internet providers, E-Talk and Com-Cen, and two provider employees also will be liable as hosts, but their lawyers said the providers offered "mere provision of services". [6]

Does this man who created this website, win the case or loose it?
I do not know if he has won or lost. The case was said to be finished that Friday, but there is no continuation of this case. I believe this man had won his case, because he wasn’t making money off of the website, he was just giving people links to click on and take them to sites where they can illegally download sound recordings.
So why weren’t the websites that offered the downloading feature targeted in this case?
I have no idea why they weren’t but I believe that they should have been because if it weren’t for those websites then the website leading to the others wouldn’t have existed.




[1] http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/copyright?qsrc=2888

[2-6] Man in court over music copyright case. October 26,2004. March 7,2009.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/26/1098667724542.html