Let's say someone told you that Shareaza was being sued by the music industry. No big surprise, right? Now let's say you just read that Vuze was being sued. Not terribly surprising either; unfortunately this is the technologically oppressive environment that P2P development has grown in, and most people have become used to it.

But let's throw a wrench into the gears of progress. What would you think if you read that SourceForge was sued for assisting in the development of Shareaza? Sounds kinda silly, right? Besides, SourceForge doesn't develop any software other than the programming necessary to maintain their site. SourceForge, as many know, is an incubator of sorts for the open source community. Thousands of projects are hosted by the site, which gives support for both aspiring and seasoned programmers to introduce their projects for the world to enjoy. A well developed community also interacts with developers and other members to help test projects, offer assistance, and participate in the furtherance of technology.

Some of the projects hosted is the productivity suite Open Office, while others are P2P programs such as eMule, Ares Galazy, Vuze and Shareaza. It's no secret that plenty of sites, such as Download.com, host P2P applications. They aren't illegal, so there's really no problem, right?

Not quite – last month, SourceForge was sued by The Société civile des Producteurs de Phonogrammes en France (SPPF), a French music industry trade group similar to the RIAA. Technology writers, journalists, and the open source community in general was shocked at the decision to sue an organization that had nothing to do with P2P development – it simply made no sense whatsoever. However, according to the latest Information Week update, the SPPF appears to be under the impression that SourceForge engineers were actively involved in Shareaza’s development. According to a translation in the article, “SourceForge is a company which worked on behalf of Shareaza and which we blamed insofar as its engineers carried out the development of the software…”

Unless the SPPF knows something the rest of the world does not, SourceForge isn’t in the business of actively developing the projects they host. The justification for suing SourceForge remains at large.