SAN FRANCISCO – The recording industry has asked a federal court judge for a
preliminary injunction to shut down Napster as part of its lawsuit against
the popular Internet song-sharing service.
The Recording Industry Association of America filed a brief Monday asking
U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel to grant the injunction preventing
Napster from “facilitating or assisting others in, the copying, downloading,
uploading, transmission or distribution of copyrighted musical works.”
The request was bolstered by declarations filed by Motion Picture
Association of America president Jack Valenti and MP3.com CEO Michael
Robertson. Robertson supported the recording industry’s claim that San
Mateo, Calif.-based Napster’s music-swapping service was a breeding ground
for widespread copyright infringement.
“If Napster can encourage and facilitate the distribution of pirated sound
recordings, then what’s to stop it from doing the same to movies, software,
books, magazines, newspapers, television, photographs or video games?”
Valenti said in his declaration.
While Napster’s central servers can be ordered off-line by the court,
distributed network file-sharing systems communicate user-to-user It would
require hundreds of thousands of injunctions to halt the widespread trade of
content online.
The RIAA sued Napster in December for copyright infringement and related
state law violations, asserting that Napster encouraged music piracy via the
Internet through its software and computer servers.
Patel ruled May 9 that Napster was not entitled to “safe harbor” as defined
by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act because the company “does not
transmit, route or provide connections for allegedly infringing material
through its system.”
That provision of the act was crafted to protect Internet service providers
such America Online and Earthlink from the illegal actions of their users.
A curious new ally in the battle against Napster is Robertson, who last week
settled with major recording labels which sought to halt his company’s
“Instant Listening Service.”
That feature of MP3.com allowed users to purchase CDs via the Web site and
listen to them online before they were physically delivered to the buyer.
The recording industry cried foul, subsequently settled with MP3.com and
entered into a new licensing agreement to allow the service.
Napster is the world’s leading file sharing community. Napster’s software
application enables users to locate and share media files from one
convenient, easy-to-use interface. It also provides media fans a forum to
communicate their interests and tastes with one another via instant
messaging, chat rooms, and Hot List user bookmarks. The company was founded
in May 1999 and has 30 employees.
Napster, Inc. recently closed a $15 million Series C venture capital funding
round. The round was led by Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, with additional
investments from Angel Investors LP and other existing investors. As part of
the investment in Napster, Hummer Winblad partners Hank Barry and John
Hummer joined the Board of Directors and Hank Barry assumed the role of
interim CEO.(ap-dj)
