A Federal Court judge yesterday rejected an application by Kazaa's Sydney-based owners to bar evidence seized in a series of court-sanctioned raids last month from being used in legal proceedings aimed at shutting down the Internet file-swapping giant.
"Today is a total victory for the copyright owners," declared Michael Speck, a former police detective who is now general manager of Music Industry Piracy Investigations -- a body set up by major Australian record labels to target copyright infringers.
"It should send a clear message to Kazaa that it's time to get on with the case."
Members of Australia's record industry want the Australian Federal Court to shut down Kazaa, a Web site offering software that allows users to swap music, movies and other computer files.
Lawyers for Kazaa's Sydney-based owner, Sharman Networks, said they wanted to study the 23-page ruling before making a comment. It is possible they will appeal the ruling.
Judge Murray Wilcox also rejected an application to suspend the Australian litigation until there is a verdict in a similar case against it now before a US court.
The Australian case is due back in court March 23.
Although Wilcox rejected Sharman's application, he also did not allow the music industry unfettered access to the evidence, including computer files and data from hard drives, it gathered in the so-called Anton Piller raids at Sharman and other companies with links to Kazaa, as well as the home of Kazaa chief executive officer Nikki Hemming.
Instead, he suggested Sharman and the record industry investigators meet to discuss access to the evidence.
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)