Digital Legal

Oracle to sue Qtrax a second time

By | Published on Wednesday 15 September 2010

A US court has told tech firm Oracle it can refile its legal claim for $1.9 million against Qtrax, the legit P2P file-sharing network that has never really managed to get off the ground.

Oracle originally sued Qtrax last summer, claiming it was owed licensing fees for software owned by the claimants and used by the file-sharing company. Qtrax failed to respond to the original lawsuit, meaning the court ruled in the claimant’s favour by default. But earlier this year Oracle informed the court the matter had been resolved and an out of court settlement was about to be reached. That settlement, though, it seems, never actually came.

Which is why Oracle went back to court this summer again chasing the nearly $2 million it reckons it is owed. Earlier this month a Californian court ruled the tech firm could indeed refile its claim against Qtrax’s owners.

As much previously reported, Qtrax promised to fix the music industry’s woes by setting up a legit file-sharing service. It got off to a false start, though, when it announced licensing deals with all four majors at a Midem press conference in 2008, only to have to admit said deals weren’t signed. It did, however, subsequently launch a licensed digital music service, but a DRM heavy one that was widely panned by critics.

Despite never gaining any real traction in the digital music market, Qtrax does still operate and only this month announced plans to step up its marketing activity.



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