With all the media attention that Napster has been getting, most people now know what Napster is. But how many of us really know all the facts and events surrounding this Napster controversy?
In December 1999, The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) filed a lawsuit against Napster for contributory copyright infringement. This means that the RIAA believes that Napster and its users are pirating music, or copying music that they are not authorized to copy. Many of the MP3 files shared on Napster are pirated files. Napster claims that it cannot be liable for the actions that its members take, as they have a disclaimer on their website saying that copying or sharing unauthorized files violates copyrights, and that compliance with these laws is the responsibility of the user.
However, many members of the recording industry still believe that Napster should be shut down.
In April 2000, the band Metallica filed suit against Napster as well, claiming that Napster encourages people to share their songs without the permission of the band. This was followed shortly by another lawsuit filed by rapper Dr. Dre. Metallica had initially wanted its songs removed from Napster’s MP3 directory, but Napster instead offered to terminate the accounts of all users who had shared Metallica songs. Metallica complied, by sending Napster a list of more that 300,000 user names that had traded their songs, and Dr. Dre followed suit, sending a list of 200,000 users who had traded his music. However, these users were allowed to fill out a form provided by Napster saying that they were mistakenly named as traders of this music. This form also allowed Dr. Dre or Metallica to take action against the users for trading their songs. The bands decided not to take action against the users, as more than 30,000 people filled out the form. It would be ludicrous to sue that many people. Therefore, the users were reinstated.
In July, the 9th Circuit Court judges delayed an injunction that could have shut down Napster. This injunction would have forced Napster to remove all copyrighted songs owned by RIAA members. Since that action was impossible, Napster would have had to shut down. On Aug. 18, Napster filed its opening brief with a federal appeals court. In this brief, Napster asked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit to reverse the court ruling that had ordered them to stop distributing copyrighted songs. However, a stay on the injunction remained. Napster argued that new technology has changed the way consumers receive recordings, and that should be considered in the case. In September, Napster sent its final brief to the Appeals Court, claiming that they are protected by the Audio Home Recording Act, which says that people can copy music, provided that it is for their own personal use. This brief was in response to the RIAA’s request to uphold the injunction that would shut down Napster.
In October, Napster made a deal with Bertelsmann AG, which is the parent company of Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG). The agreement was with BeCG, the e-commerce group of Bertelsmann AG. Their idea was to form a membership-based service for Napster, which also offered compensation to the artists whose songs are being traded. According to Rolling Stone Magazine, Napster CEO Hank Barry claimed that the alliance would be beneficial to Napster, as Bertelsmann supports innovation and has a reputation for offering convenient user experiences.
And now for the latest Napster news. Just last week, the company offered to pay $1 billion in licensing fees over the next five years to record companies, if they dropped their lawsuits against Napster. This means that the users would also be charged anywhere from $2.95 to $9.95 per month, depending on the amount of access a user wants. Also, burning or exporting files would also require a fee. Luckily, 70 percent of Napster’s 64 million users said they would be willing to pay. Unfortunately, users will also have to bear reformatting all their files and new limitations on sound quality and converting files to other media.
