Kazaa Fights Against Damning Evidence

Kazaa creator Sharman Networks switched strategies in the ongoing file sharing case in Australian court Tuesday. According to courtroom reports, Sharman lawyers attempted and were denied a motion to suppress some 30 Altnet and four Sharman Networks documents, which contained evidence that could damage to the P2P network's case.

Included in the documents is the bill of sale for Kazaa to Sharman Networks from Kazaa B.V. Although basically a standard legal document, it included two bizarre clauses, considering that at the time of sale in 2002, the legality of P2P networks was already in question.

The first states that, "Save as disclosed in the Litigation Letter, the Vendor (Kazaa B.V) is not a plaintiff or defendant in or otherwise a party to any litigation relating to the Business, which are in progress or threatened in writing or pending against the Vendor. So far as the Vendor is aware, no governmental or official investigation or inquiry concerning the Vendor is in progress or pending."

The second continues to attempt to give Sharman legal protection: "Save as disclosed in the Litigation Letter, the Vendor is not aware of any circumstances which are reasonably likely to give rise to any such litigation, proceeding, investigation or inquiry."

The clauses indicate that either Sharman ignored the potential liability of Kazaa, or was led to believe at the time of sale that no companies were pursing the original owners over copyright infringements.

Also included in the evidence is a diatribe by Sharman CTO Philip Morle, where he says, "I make p2p software because I believe that it is a globally important tool. It democratises the Net and in doing so, democratises culture." Morle continues to say that Kazaa needed to push the envelope due to an "arms race" among P2P developers and saying the company would have to take legal risks.

Finally, in what could be the most damning of all evidence uncovered Tuesday, is an admission by Morle that Kazaa does indeed carry adware. Sharman has vehemently denied this, although independent tests of the software have shown it to bundle software that is installed unbeknownst to the user.

"We need to be careful with user resources. Most obvious is in the adware we add to their machine upon installation. This software slows down users’ machines and can affect other activity such as browsing the Internet," More wrote. "Consider how many people that work for Sharman Networks and its partners that hate installing Kazaa on their machines."

The documents could signal trouble for Kazaa, as part of the case against the company includes a charge of breaching the Trade Practices Act, which protects consumers from unknown risks by requiring that companies disclose completely what their products do.

More evidence is expected to be revealed through the next several days.