Bloomberg News Service
SAN FRANCISCO — Napster Inc., facing the prospect of a court order that might shut it down, will block access by this weekend to more than 1 million copyright music files on its Internet song-sharing service, the company said.
Napster is using a newly installed screen to stop the works of rapper Dr. Dre, heavy metal band Metallica and other artists from being downloaded, company officials said. The music industry remains concerned it will lose millions if Napster isn’t required under an injunction to block access to all copyright songs owned by major record labels.
Napster’s move, aimed at appeasing the industry, may instead hurt the company’s credibility in its copyright-infringement battle with the five major record distributors, one legal expert said. Napster and the industry remain at odds over who bears the responsibility for identifying infringing files.
"Napster has taken the very strong position of how it would be impossible for the company to comply with an injunction. Now it turns out it can," said intellectual property attorney Mark Radcliffe. Napster is going to have a hard time "when it tells the judge what is or isn’t technologically possible."
The music industry is seeking a preliminary injunction that would require Napster to use the Billboard charts to determine which files must be blocked. It also wants to be able to notify Napster in advance of soon-to-be-released material before it becomes available on the trading site.
Napster contends such an order would overburden its system. It is proposing a more limited court order that puts the burden on the labels to show they own the copyrights to each song available through Napster.
The company’s decision to block access to more than 1 million files came after an appeals court directed U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel to issue an injunction, Barry said. Patel didn’t indicate yesterday when she would issue the order.
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