|
Korea¡¯s biggest provider of peer-to-peer file sharing services Soribada, only recently closed down under pressure from the recording industry, was unrepentant on Friday, saying it will roll out new P2P software soon. The move is expected to inflame the powerful music industry, which says file-swapping sites violate its copyright.
¡°We will launch a new P2P service called Open Soribada¡¦ to replace Soribada 3, which was shut down by a court,¡± the firm¡¯s chief Yang Jung-hwan said.
The Open Soribada software simply supports file-sharing between Internet users, but additional services on the website including registration and reward points will be scrapped. The Soribada webmaster will no longer ask members for personal information or charge them for providing the service in an apparent bid by the firm to place itself beyond the reach of the law.
¡°The service recently suspended by court order was limited to Soribada 3, but not all P2P services were banned,¡± Yang said. ¡°I¡¯m wracking my brain to develop various models that don¡¯t infringe on rights of Internet users and allow us to allocate revenues to copyright holders.¡±
Yet the music industry claims that given the court order to shut down Soribada¡¯s services, albeit provisional, it is evidently illegal for the firm to launch a fresh P2P service.
Yun Seong-wu of the Korean Association of Phonogram Producers argued the court ruling ¡°banned Soribada from profiting from its software because it was in violation of copyright laws, but [the company] is ignoring the verdict and evading the law.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
|
