Microsoft techie sues Kazaa for $25m

A Microsoft employee involved in coding the original version of Kazaa has launched a $25m legal action against Sharman Networks, claiming he never signed away his rights to the file-sharing program.

Romanian developer Fabian Toader, who helped write the program for its original owners, said in a court filing that he had never signed a contract giving away the copyright to his code. He's asking Sharman for $25m in a case filed in a Los Angeles federal court.

Sharman, which bought the Kazaa software from its original owners, a European company called Kazaa BV, says Toader's claim is without merit.

Sharman said in a statement: "The work done by Fabian Toader on early versions of the Kazaa Media Desktop software was done under a work-for-hire agreement that expressly states that Kazaa BV owned all rights to any work related to the development of the software".

Toader could not be reached for comment.

Toader and Sharman have tangled for nearly a year over rights to the program, creating a potentially embarrassing dispute for Sharman, which is being attacked from all sides by entertainment companies and now an angry developer.

According to court documents, Toader - now a Microsoft employee in the Seattle area, according to his attorney, Marc Fenster - first approached Sharman in June last year, asking for credit as a creator of Kazaa. He then asked for monetary compensation of €25,000, otherwise threatening to release the original Kazaa source code onto the Net, according to Sharman court filings.

Sharman filed suit to combat the claim in Washington state court, and a judge granted an injunction barring Toader from releasing the code. Toader in turn filed a federal suit in Washington, and a judge there put a hold on the state court's injunction and ordered Toader to hand over all copies of the Kazaa source code for safekeeping while the copyright trial was pending.

The Los Angeles suit, filed on 4 March, comes after Toader withdrew his case in Seattle, but covers most of the same issues.

John Borland writes for News.com