Statement From Sharman Networks, Ltd.

Statement From Sharman Networks, Ltd.

SYDNEY, Australia, June 27 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is a statement by Alan Morris, Executive Vice President of Sharman Networks, Ltd. regarding the Supreme Court decision on Grokster v. MGM:

"We view today's decision by the United States Supreme Court as a clear opportunity for the legal system to vindicate Sharman Networks.

We welcome the remand back to the district court, as we are confident the legal process will affirm that we have never illegally sought to induce users of our file sharing software, Kazaa Media Desktop, to violate copyright law, and that we have taken numerous steps to discourage copyright infringement by our users.

While the Supreme Court apparently found 'substantial evidence... on all elements of inducement' by other P2P providers Grokster and Morpheus, Sharman has never encouraged or assisted users of Kazaa software to share copyrighted material in violation of copyright law.

In fact, our Kazaa web site and its End User License Agreement (EULA) have always contained explicit direction to users to respect their national copyright laws. And, from day one, Sharman's alliance with Altnet offered copyright owners a means by which licensed and protected copyrighted content could be distributed in a lawful and compensated manner, yet major content owners engaged in a coordinated boycott of that opportunity that we have asserted was in violation of U.S. antitrust laws.

We believe that further legal review of this case will also show that Sharman was diligent and aggressive in its lawful efforts to distribute copyrighted music and movies through peer-to-peer distribution, and was thwarted in its efforts to do so by the music and motion picture industries.

Content providers were repeatedly asked to license their content and they repeatedly refused. By concertedly refusing to license their movies and music to Sharman and Altnet, the music and movie industries have deprived consumers of the broadest product choices at the least possible cost.

Sharman looks forward to proving both that it did not violate the United States copyright laws and that the music and movie industries in fact have violated the United States antitrust laws."

Source: Sharman Networks, Ltd.

CONTACT: Gaby Duran of the ZENO Group, Cell: +1-202-531-1395, or
Gabriela.duran@zenogroup.com, for Sharman Networks, Ltd.

Web site: http://www.kazaa.com/

NOTE TO EDITORS: To schedule a phone interview with Alan Morris, Executive VP, Sharman Networks Ltd. in Australia (please note the 14 hour time difference), please contact person below.

-------
Profile: intent