Lawyers representing Sharman Networks on Tuesday informed the Federal Court of Australia they intend to challenge the validity of the court order that resulted in raids at several locations across Australia last week.
Music Industry Piracy Investigations (MIPI) obtained court orders on Friday to search 12 sites across Australia to hunt for evidence of copyright infringement. One of the targets of the searches was Sharman, owner of popular peer-to-peer software Kazaa. Describing the Anton Pillar order as "the legal equivalent of a nuclear bomb," lawyers representing Sharman Networks allege that the record labels did not disclose all relevant matters to the judge when applying for the order. An Anton Pillar order allows a copyright holder to enter a premises to search for and seize material that breaches copyright without alerting the target beforehand.
"We're outraged that this process has been necessary, full disclosure would have prevented this entirely," said David Casselman, a lawyer representing Sharman Networks in its ongoing U.S. court case. "We've asked to set aside the Anton Pillar order and to stay the litigation until the U.S. litigation is resolved, at which stage we suspect there'll be no need for this litigation." Sharman Networks claimed Justice Murray Wilcox was not informed that Sharman Networks had agreed to submit to depositions and cooperate fully with the U.S. case MGM v Grokster et al, which involves actions by movie studios and record companies against peer-to-peer services over alleged copyright-infringing activities.
News source: C|Net News.com
