Australian Court rules KaZaA liable for copyright infringement

A New South Wales Court ruled on September 5 that file-swapping service KaZaA infringes copyright. The Court clarified that its decision relates only to the KaZaA service, and not to file-sharing generally. The ruling only covers Australia - key differences between Canadian and Australian copyright law, including differences in treatment of "authorizing" copyright infringement and Canada's private copying regime, caution against application of this decision to Canadian copyright law. KaZaA owner Sharman Networks has vowed to appeal the decision.

• Universal Music Australia Pty Ltd. v. Sharman License Holdings Ltd., [2005] FCA 1242 (5 September 2005)

• Australian Law Professor Kim Weatherall's commentary on the decision