Having vanquished the music swapping service Napster in court, the entertainment industry is facing a formidable obstacle in pursuing its major successor, KaZaA: geography.
Sharman Networks, the distributor of the program, is incorporated in the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu and managed from Australia. Its computer servers are in Denmark and the source code for its software was last seen in Estonia.
KaZaA’s original developers, who still control the underlying technology, are thought to be living in the Netherlands — although entertainment lawyers seeking to have them charged with violating U.S. copyright law have been unable to find them.
What KaZaA has in the United States are users — millions of them — downloading copyrighted music, television shows and movies 24 hours a day.
How effective are U.S. laws against a company that enters the country only virtually? The answer is about to unfold in a Los Angeles courtroom.

— Amy Harmon,

New York Times