Australia-based Sharman Networks came from nowhere to buy the Kazaa Media Desktop and now carries bragging rights as the world's largest file-swapping network.
The surprise shutdown of the popular Morpheus file-trading software last week has thrown a spotlight on a little-known Australian company whose service now carries bragging rights as the world's largest file-swapping network.
Obscurity comes with the territory in the underground file-swapping world, where unknown upstarts with the unlikely power to shake the entertainment industry to its knees seemingly spawn and die overnight. But even in this shadowy domain, the story of Australia's Sharman Networks stands out.
The company seemingly came out of nowhere in January to buy the Kazaa Media Desktop from creator Kazaa BV, formerly known as FastTrack, which also provided the code used in Morpheus. After a silent first month, Sharman has emerged as a key player in an increasingly bizarre triangle with Morpheus' parent company, StreamCast Networks, and Kazaa BV, in which accusations of unpaid bills, user-poaching and technical sabotage are flying back and forth.
News source: ZDnet Australia
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