SAN FRANCISCO – Last week a federal judge in San Francisco issued a preliminary injunction against Napster in the course of the yearlong lawsuit.
Napster must block songs from being traded through its service. But U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel gave the music-swapping company much of what it asked for in court Friday, denying the record industry’s appeals for a much broader order.
As a result of the court action the number of music files being traded through Napster.com has dropped sharply since the company began policing its system for unauthorized songs, a research firm reported Thursday.
Napster users were downloading 50 percent fewer files as the company beefed up its screening technology Wednesday, according to Webnoize, a firm that has followed Napster usage closely.
Prior to upgrading its system in order to block access to infringing content, the average number of files shared per Napster user was 172. After the upgrade, the average number of files shared per user dropped to 71, Webnoize reported.
Napster officials continue to disagree with the recording industry about the burdens the company must bear in policing its system for unauthorized content.
