Recording Industry Sues Napster for Copyright Infringement

March 11, 2010 at March 11, 2010 · Filed under enart.nnxj.comedit

Recording Industry Sues Napster for Infringement The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)Wednesday filed suit against Napster, Inc., a company the RIAA alleged is operating as a haven for music piracy on the Internet.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in California, charges Napster with contributory and vicarious infringement and related state laws. By its own admission, Napster is responsible for making millions of MP3 files widely available to users around the world. As alleged by the RIAA in its complaint, the overwhelming majority of those recordings are pirated.

"We love the idea of using technology to build artist communities, but that's not what Napster is all about. Napster is about facilitating piracy, and trying to build a business on the backs of artists and owners," said Cary Sherman, senior executive vice president and general counsel, RIAA.

Napster claims that it is trying to promote unknown artists, but its own Web site advertised that, with Napster, "you can forget wading through page after page of unknown artists" and "you'll never come up empty handed when searching for your favorite artist again!"

"Many companies on the Internet are promoting artists without also trading in pirated music files," Sherman said. "Companies like UBL, IUMA, Farm Club and MP3.com prove that there are many creative ways to promote new artists online without infringing on the rights of artists and owners." Pirated copies of the recordings of every artist on the current Billboard charts can be located and downloaded from Napster.

According to the complaint, Napster users log onto Napster servers and make their previously personal MP3 collections available for download by other Napster users who are logged on at the same time. Napster provides its users with all the facilities and means to engage in infringment, according to the RIAA.

The RIAA is a trade association whose members create, manufacture and/or distribute approximately 90 percent of all legitimate sound recordings produced and sold in the United States. One of the organization's primary missions is to safeguard the intellectual property rights of recording artists and member companies. It has been in legal battles before over online music, specifically with MP3.com over the legality of the MP3 format.

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