Music giants lose P2P case against Spaniard

Pablo Soto, who created peer-to-peer sharing software such as Manolito, Blubster and Piolet, on Monday won a long legal battle against giants of the movie and music industries.

Promusicae, Warner, Universal, Sony BMG and EMI launched the suit against Soto In June, 2008 and sought 13 million euros in damages. They argued that his P2P programs had been created with "the evident intention of profit and parasitic conduct."

In passing his ruling, the judge said that Soto's creations served for sharing "audio data, an instrument not apt per se for unlocking works protected by authors' rights."

The plaintiffs were ordered to pay all the costs arising from the trial. Soto said he hoped to get his business back on track and find new investors.