Music Publishers Say Kazaa Deal Reached

The music publishing industry reached a tentative deal with operators of the Kazaa file-sharing network over claims of copyright infringement, an industry group said.

Publishers pursuing a class-action suit against Kazaa informed U.S. District Court on Monday that the peer-to-peer network had agreed to pay “a substantial sum” under the agreement, the National Music Publishers’ Association said in a statement.

The amount of the settlement was not disclosed. It is subject to final approval by the association board.

The settlement “will be another key milestone of the ongoing transformation of the digital music marketplace to one that will allow legal services to thrive,” NMPA President and Chief Executive David Israelite said in the statement.

Phil Armstrong, a spokesman for Sharman Networks Ltd., which owns and distributes Kazaa, said he was not familiar with the lawsuit and declined to comment. [Source: AP via Fox News]

[tags]kazza, copyright infringement, NMPA, digital media, David Israelite, Phil Armstrong[/tags]