The original Scour business went bankrupt due to the cost of fighting similar copyright lawsuits to those faced by Napster. Its service offered the swapping of any type of file, including movies and music, without any protection for copyright owners. Consequently, it faced the legal wrath of both industries.
US-based CenterSpan Communications is a developer of P2P software technologies and bought Scour’s assets in bankruptcy in December 2000. It yesterday announced it has released a beta version of a revised Scour Exchange that incorporates secure and legal distribution technology for the delivery of digital entertainment.
A controlled beta group has begun testing the system. Later this year, a fee-based service will be launched.
CenterSpan says its architecture is the first to integrate support for digital rights management solutions (DRM) into a peer-to-peer digital distribution channel to protect copyright owners.
It is also the first to make peer network files visible to standard search engines. Each downloadable file that will be available in Scour Exchange is "wrapped" in a secure DRM package that allows its distribution to be tracked and controlled. The beta environment will feature the Microsoft Windows Media DRM.
The company is negotiating with music and video content providers for fee-based content. Convincing copyright owners to grant it licences will likely be a difficult hurdle to clear.