alternative language either to the district court or to the Seventh Circuit, and had therefore
waived the objection.^1836
(4) The StreamCast/Kazaa/Grokster LawsuitsOne of the most significant peer-to-peer lawsuits to be filed after the Napster case
involved the file sharing services originally known as Music City (later renamed to StreamCast),
Kazaa, and Grokster. On Oct. 2, 2001, various recording companies and movie studios sued the
operators of these services for copyright infringement in the Central District of California.
Shortly thereafter, on Nov. 19, 2001, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller filed a class action for
copyright infringement on behalf of themselves and all music publishers represented by The
Harry Fox Agency against the same defendants, again in the Central District of California. The
two lawsuits were eventually consolidated.
These suits presented a potential extension of the legal theories on which the Napster case
relied in view of technical differences in the peer-to-peer architecture used by the StreamCast,
Kazaa, and Grokster services, as opposed to the Napster service. As discussed in Section
III.C.2(c)(1) above, the Napster service relied on a central index of files available for sharing
stored on servers maintained and controlled by Napster. This index enabled Napster to block
allegedly infringing files by searching the filenames available through the index. By contrast,
the StreamCast, Kazaa, and Grokster services did not operate based on such a central index.
Rather, the indexes of files available for sharing were distributed across users’ computers.
Specifically, according to the complaint filed in the class action case, each of the
StreamCast, Kazaa, and Grokster services initially relied on software called FastTrack, originally
developed by a group of Scandinavian programmers known as Consumer Empowerment BV,
later renamed Kazaa BV.^1837 Kazaa BV launched the first of the three services (the Kazaa
service) on July 28, 2000 by publicly releasing its FastTrack software on its web site.^1838 The
FastTrack software interacted with Kazaa BV’s server side software to enable Kazaa users to
connect their computers to one or more central computer servers controlled and maintained by
Kazaa BV.^1839 After the central server registered, identified, and logged in the user, the Kazaa
service connected the user to a “SuperNode.” A SuperNode is a computer with a high-
bandwidth connection that is operated by another user already connected to the service. After a
user connected to a SuperNode, these “local search hubs” compiled an index of digital files being
offered by the user for downloading by other service users. The FastTrack software also enabled
users to search for and import preexisting libraries of music files (such as libraries that users built
using Napster) to make them available through the service. In response to a search request, the
SuperNode reviewed its own index of files and, if necessary, the indices maintained by other
SuperNodes. It then displayed the search results to the user to permit the user to download any
(^1836) In re Aimster Copyright Litigation, 334 F.3d 643, 656 (7th Cir. 2003), cert. denied, 124 S. Ct. 1069 (2004).
(^1837) Class Action Complaint for Copyright Infringement, Leiber v. Consumer Empowerment, Civ. No. 01-09923
(C.D. Cal. Nov. 19, 2001) ¶¶ 25-26.
(^1838) Id. ¶ 27.
(^1839) Id. ¶ 31.