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For Immediate Release: Thursday, November 21, 2002

Hollywood Tries to Corner Kazaa

Court Considers Global Jurisdiction Issue

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Advisory

Los Angeles - On Monday, November 24, a federal court in Los Angeles will consider whether entertainment companies may sue Sharman Networks, distributor of the Kazaa peer-to-peer file sharing software, in U.S. courts.

Sharman is incorporated in the island-nation of Vanuatu, operates out of Australia, and distributes the Kazaa software from servers located outside the U.S. Attorneys for Sharman will argue that their client is an off-shore corporation with no substantial contacts with the U.S., thus the company cannot be sued in U.S. courts. Sharman is represented by the Los Angeles law firm of Hennigan, Bennett & Dorman.

The judge will also consider procedural motions brought by StreamCast Networks, distributors of the Morpheus peer-to-peer software, in preparation for a summary judgment hearing scheduled for December 2, 2002. StreamCast is represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the law firm of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison.

The hearing will be held at 1:30pm on Monday, November 25, before U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Wilson at the U.S. Federal Courthouse, located at 312 North Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles.

Link:

For this advisory:
http://www.eff.org/IP/P2P/MGM_v_Grokster/20021121_eff_pr.html

Documents related to Metro-Goldwyn Mayer v. Grokster case:
http://www.eff.org/IP/P2P/MGM_v_Grokster/

About EFF:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and government to support free expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported organization and maintains one of the most-linked-to websites in the world at http://www.eff.org/

Contact:

Fred von Lohmann
Senior Intellectual Property Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
fred@eff.org
+1 415 436-9333 x123 (office)

 

Please send any questions or comments to webmaster@eff.org.