Napster Loses First Round Of Copyright Suit

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has won the first round in its lawsuit against Napster, Inc. the online service that allows consumers to download software, enabling them to share MP3 music recordings with each other over the Internet.

On late Friday afternoon, Chief Judge Marilyn Hall Patel of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California (San Francisco), rejected Napster's claim that it was protected from liability for copyright infringement by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 on the basis that it was acting like an ISP (Internet service provider) in providing its music sharing service.

Napster had said in its defense that it did not copy any music itself and was not responsible for how consumers used its service. Napster has also said that it will remove anyone from its list of subscribers if they are found to have violated any artist's or record label's copyright.

In a statement released by the RIAA on today, Judge Patel is quoted as rejecting Napster's claim that it was a "mere conduit."

The RIAA, which is a trade association representing some of the world's largest record labels, brought suit against Napster in January, alleging copyright infringement and seeking damages and an injunction.

Since the RIAA has brought suit, rap music artist Dr. Dre and the hard rock band Metallica, using the same attorney, have also filed separate lawsuits against Napster on essentially the same grounds. They too sought financial damages as well as injunctive relief.

Napster had raised the same "mere conduit" defense in the Dr. Dre and Metallica cases also, and Friday's ruling by Judge Patel is being seen as an indication that Napster's claim will be rejected in those cases as well.

The decision on Napster's claim that it was protected from liability resolves only half of the matters pending before Judge Patel in the RIAA/Napster suit. The RIAA also wants the judge to issue an injunction barring Napster from allowing RIAA members' music to be shared among by Napster subscribers.

There was no indication in the statement released today by the RIAA that the court has ruled on the RIAA's request for an injunction.

Reported by Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com.