Taiwan online music file-sharing network Kuro agreed to shut down its file-swapping service and pay undisclosed damages to settle a recording industry lawsuit, a Reuters report said.
The Reuters report, quoting the industry group International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, which filed the civil action, said the settlement comes a year after a separate case produced a landmark criminal conviction against executives at Kuro's operators, Fashionow.
Under settlement of the civil case, Fashionnow would stop distributing its peer-to-peer swapping software immediately and will ensure closure of the copyright-infringing service by October 15, a statement from the group said.
The Reuters report said the Web site will instead operate a legitimate portal for music downloads and would sever all links with the old services.
P2P services distribute information directly between users instead of through a central server. Kuro had charged users a monthly fee of NT$99 ($3) to access music files and has an estimated 500,000 subscribers in Taiwan and China, the Reuters report said.
Executives from Fashionow were unavailable for comment, but a statement posted on Kuro's Web site said the company had settled the case and also received authorization from international and domestic music companies to operate a legitimate download Web site, the report further said.