In the most recent industry-birthed lawsuit against a P2P operator, the Taiwan District Court found the popular Kuro network guilty of copyright infringement. A family business, it looks like brothers James and Victor Chen will be able to continue their fraternal hijinx together on a three year stint in jail. When kids hit the big house, I’m always tempted to invoke the personally influential “Dad I’m in Jail,” from the 1988 Was (Not Was) album What Up, Dog?, whose choice lyrics include “Hi Dad, happy birthday, I’M IN JAIL” or “I like it here,” but in this case, it’s in vain: Chen Senior, the president of the company, will be serving two years along with his sons.
The verdict follows on the heels of similar cases, including MGM v. Grokster in the US, the recent filtering of the Kazaa service in Australia, and the shutting down of the Korean P2P Koribada. Still, the Kuro executives issued a statement to The China Post yesterday, saying “We will not stop advertising… We will worry about [the jail sentences] when the appeals verdict is handed down.” Ballsy.