Taiwan's P2P Giant Goes Legal
The International Federation for the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) announced last
Thursday that Kuro, Taiwan's best-known unauthorised file-sharing service, has
paid a substantial sum in damages to the recording industry and agreed to shut
down its copyright-infringing P2P operation.
Under the settlement with record companies represented by IFPI Taiwan, Kuro's
operator, Taipei-based Fashion Now Co. Ltd, will stop distributing its P2P software
programme immediately and will ensure closure of the copyright-infringing service
by October 15. Kuro, its directors and president all received a criminal conviction for copyright
infringement in September 2005. The service was run as a commercial subscription business, with an estimated
500,000 registered users in Taiwan and mainland China. The operator says it
will launch a new legitimate music download website but will sever all links
with the old infringing service. IFPI General Counsel & Executive Vice-President, Geoff Taylor announced
last week that: "Unauthorised file-sharing services like Kuro profit from large-scale
copyright infringement and undermine those legitimate online music services
who pay artists and respect copyright. This settlement confirms that there is
a bright future for legal online music services, while services that try to
build a business on copyright theft pay a heavy price." .
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