Kazaa executives are due to appear in court next month following contempt of court charges initiated by an alliance of more than 30 music labels in Australia seeking to stamp out internet music piracy.

The return to court on 30 January is the result of Kazaa's decision to block access to its file sharing network, despite a judge's order to install keyword filters to prevent the download of copyrighted music.

Kazaa chose not to implement keyword filters, saying that blocking network access to Australian users satisfied the court's request.

The new court session will seek to determine whether Kazaa breached the judge's order to implement filtering technology to block access to 3,000 artists such as Kylie Minogue, Madonna and Eminem in Australia.

The order was originally issued to allow the company to continue operating as it sought to appeal against a verdict handed down by the Federal Court which found it guilty of encouraging users to infringe copyright.

Music Industry Piracy Investigations, the body that represents the recording companies, said that the contempt charges had been brought by the recording companies based on allegations that the operators had failed to comply with court orders.

Recording industry representatives also argued in court this week for the date of the contempt hearing to be brought forward from 30 January in a bid to prevent Kazaa from continuing to operate in its current form in the lead up to its appeal on 20 February.

Contempt of court can lead to imprisonment and sequestration of company assets.