Official Web Site - http://www.kazaa.com Company - Sharman Networks Current Version - 3.0*
Description of Kazaa
Software History The bulk of its initial userbase was made up of users of the Morpheus program, formerly a client of MusicCity. However, once the official Kazaa client became more widespread, its developers used their ability to automatically update it, changing the protocol in February 2002 to shut out Morpheus clients when its developers failed to pay license fees. Morpheus subsequently became a client of the Gnutella network.
Like the creators of similar products, Kazaas owners have been taken to court by music publishing bodies to restrict its use in the sharing of copyrighted material. Consumer Empowerment was taken to court in the Netherlands in 2001 by the Dutch music publishing body, Buma/Stemra. In November 2001, the court ordered Kazaas owners to take steps to prevent its users from violating copyrights or else pay a heavy fine. Consumer Empowerment responded by selling the Kazaa application to a complicated mesh of offshore companies, primarily Sharman Networks, headquartered in Australia and incorporated in Vanuatu.
In late March 2002, a court of appeal reversed an earlier judgment, and stated that Kazaa was not responsible for the actions of its users. However, in 2002, Sharman was sued in Los Angeles by the RIAA and the MPAA. That lawsuit is still pending, although a recent judgement by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a related lawsuit against a similar FastTrack client Grokster appears to take away the basis for the US Kazaa suit. That decision was appealed to the US Supreme Court, and a decision reached in the case, unanimously in MGM Studios favor.
In September 2003, the RIAA filed suit in civil court against several private individuals who had shared large numbers of files with Kazaa; most of these suits were settled with monetary payments averaging ,000. Sharman Networks responded with a lawsuit against the RIAA, alleging that the terms of use of the network were violated and that unauthorized client software (such as Kazaa Lite, see below) was used in the investigation to track down the individual file sharers. An effort to throw out this suit was denied in January 2004.
In February 2004, the Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) announced its own legal action against Kazaa, alleging massive copyright breaches. The trial began on November 29, 2004. On February 6, 2005 the homes of two Sharman Networks executives and the offices of Sharman Networks in Australia were raided under a court order by ARIA to gather evidence for the trial.
On September 5, 2005, the Federal Court of Australia issued a landmark ruling that Sharman, though not itself guilty of copyright infringement, had "authorised" Kazaa users to illegally swap copyrighted songs. The court ruled six defendants - including Kazaas owners Sharman Networks, Sharmans Sydney-based boss Nikki Hemming and associate Kevin Bermeister - had knowingly allowed Kazaa users to illegally swap copyrighted songs. The company was ordered to modify the software within two months (a ruling enforceable only in Australia). Sharman and the other five parties also face paying millions of dollars in damages to the record labels that instigated the legal action.
On December 5, 2005, the Federal Court of Australia ceased downloads of Kazaa in Australia after Sharman Networks didnt modify their software by the December 5 deadline. Users with an Australian IP address are greeted with the message "Important Notice: The download of the Kazaa Media Desktop by users in Australia is not permitted" when visiting Kazaa website. An appeal will take place in February 2006.
In 2005, Sharman Networks opened a branch office in Amsterdam, Nederland.
Ironically, in 2004 - Sharman Networks forced our hosting provider to have us take down our downloads. More information is available here.
Program Information Kazaa Media Desktop uses peer-to-peer technology. This means that individual users connect to each other directly, without need for a central point of management.
All you need to do is install Kazaa Media Desktop peer-to-peer software and it will connect you to other Kazaa Media Desktop users. The software facilitates the searching and downloading functions as outlined in our user guide.
The P2P searches occur through users with fast connections, called supernodes. Once located, the file is sourced for downloading directly from the user who has it.
Kazaa Media Desktop includes additional applications bundled with the softwares installer file. Third-party applications bundled with this download may record your surfing habits, deliver advertising, collect private information, or modify your system settings.
The latest version adds the ability to disable the "Find More From Same User" function and the default disabling of the "Instant Messenger" function.
*The Official KaZaA versions are not available. You will be redirected to download K-Lite Pro from our affiliate.
