Author Topic: Chinese Re-run Of Napster ? (Read 822 times)

GhostShip · « **on:** December 19, 2006, 11:11:03 pm »

The names have changed but the outcome looks the same

http://www.interfax.cn/displayarticle.asp?aid=20021&slug=IPR

Quote

Shanghai Push Sound Music & Entertainment Co. Ltd. won a case against Kuro, a mainland operator of peer-to-peer software, setting a legal precedent in China, Shanghai Push's lawyer said.

"This is a milestone in the online copyright field," Rong Chao, who represented Shanghai Push, said. "The judge's ruling didn't solely rely on the central servers the company keeps, rather the judge made full consideration of the intentions of the company. The key point is that the copyright infringement was organized - the company charged money and its activity could be defined as active inducement."

Kuro was developed in Taiwan and is one of many P2P software systems in China. The P2P file sharing model enables users to copy files from other users' computers.

For RMB 20 ($2.5) per month, users get unlimited music downloading services from Kuro's central servers or from other users' computers.
"Kuro claims to have 2.3 million users. Based on this user number, they should have earned RMB 2.9 billion ($368 million)," Rong said.

In August 2005, Shanghai Push, which produces many popular Chinese songs, found Kuro was distributing 53 songs copyrighted by Shanghai Push.
In November 2005, Shanghai Push sued the mainland operator of Kuro, Beijing Flying Network (Feixingwang) Music Software Development Company, seeking compensation of RMB 380,000 ($47,500).
"However, their company continuously set different barriers for the case, like refusing to receive legal documents, resulting in the delayed ruling," said Rong.

Today, the Second Intermediate Peoples Court of Beijing ruled that Flying Network should cease distribution of the 53 songs and pay compensation of RMB 210,000 ($26,250).
"Judged on my previous experience and their attitude, they will likely appeal to a higher court until their options are exhausted," said Rong.

It really does seem to make a big difference in P2P cases when there is money to defend the case, rightly or wrongly it seems the law and justice are two different games to be played out under many different guises globally, whilst this seems like a blow for the Chinese company its really just a small percentage on their interest from the paying Customers,revenue pool, so in reality a loss for the Record company, 53 songs is a rather small quantity and with a bit of renaming I,m sure no one will notice any changes at all Kuro's network.