The music-swapping website Kazaa announced Thursday it had settled all lawsuits claiming it promoted Internet piracy and would work with the entertainment industry to protect copyright.
The settlement ends litigation in the United States and Australia, and promises to crack down on what industry officials said was one of the world's biggest illegal "peer to peer" (P2P) file-sharing operations.
"This settlement marks the dawn of a new age of cooperation between P2P technology and content industries which will promise an exciting future for online distribution in general and Kazaa users in particular," said Nikki Hemming, chief executive of Kazaa's operator Sharman Networks, in a statement.
"All the parties involved now recognize the time is right to work together, and we are looking forward to collaborating with the music and motion picture companies to make P2P an integral part of the future of online digital entertainment."
Kazaa, which had an estimated 4.2 million users at its peak, was accused by the music industry and major Hollywood studios of being a major source of illegal copies of works distributed over the Internet.
The move comes a year after the US Supreme Court ruled that Grokster and other P2P sites may be held liable for copyright infringement if they encourage people to make unauthorized copies of songs, films or other content. This opened the door for the music industry to pursue damages.
The Federal Court of Australia last year found the Kazaa operators guilty of authorizing widespread copyright infringement.
Kazaa has agreed to pay "a substantial sum" to the record companies and to introduce "filtering technologies ensuring that its users can no longer distribute copyright-infringing files," according to a statement by the London-based International Federation of Recording Industries, representing global music labels.
Industry officials said the move marks a major step in moving consumers away from illegal music-swapping to legal purchases of online content.
"This is welcome news for the music community and the legal online music marketplace," said Recording Industry Association of America chairman Mitch Bainwol.
"Steadily but surely, we are passing another important marker on the remarkable journey that is the continuing transformation and development of the digital marketplace. The winners are fans, artists and labels and everyone else involved in making music, and our partners in the technology community."
