Music Industry in Global Fight on Web Copies

For a while, Napster was the darling of music-swapping college students and the bane of American entertainment industry officials. Litigation in US courts effectively bankrupted the company a year ago, but now a new multi-national file exchange service may be taking Napster's place - in popularity, and in US courtrooms. Already counting millions of users around the globe, KaZaA:geography allows internet users to swap music, films, and television programs. It is a truly transnational company; its de-centralized business model spreads its operations across Vanuatu, Australia, the Netherlands, Denmark and Estonia. As with Napster, the American music industry fears massive potential losses stemming from copyright infringement. In a recent suit brought in a California court, the industry claims that KaZaA's nation-less identity does not mean it is beyond the reach of US copyright protection laws. “The copyright industries around the world are not going to stand still and let other companies build businesses off the sweat of their brow simply because they're willing to set up shop in some other country,“ said Matt Oppenheim, a lawyer for the Recording Industry Association of America. The lawsuit promises to test the degree to which countries can agree on copyright issues. But more importantly, the KaZaA case begs the question - how far abroad can an American court extend its reach? - YaleGlobal