After nearly a year of legal battles, Napster's final demise may be just around the corner. After recording industries give Napster a list of songs users will not be allowed to access, the Northern California-based company will have 72 hours to comply, a federal judge ruled yesterday.
While this decision does not mandate that Napster shut down its site, it does greatly limit the amount of songs available to its some 60 million users.
Napster still is trying to negotiate a way to keep itself in business, despite the $1 billion in damages it already has offered to pay over the next five years.
Napster may implement a paid subscription service fee to users continuing to use the system.
But the fees may decrease the number of Napster's users.
In order to stay alive, Napster would have to maintain its current level of demand, Associate Law Dean Glen Robinson said.
But because new MP3 providers are popping up, it is unlikely users will want to pay for Napster subscription charges when services such as Imesh and Aimster offer music for free.
"I probably won't pay to use Napster because there are other services you can use," second-year College student Erin Brady said. "As long as there are other options, I'll use them."
The Recording Industry Association of America must submit a list of copyrighted titles to Napster of songs and artist names to remove from its database, U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel ruled.
After the 20 record companies in the ruling submit the list, Napster will not be allowed to display any of the copyrighted material on its index.
This was a major victory for plaintiffs in the case, including Sony Music, Geffen Records and MCA Records, who contend that Napster has committed countless acts of copyright infringement by allowing users to share music files and obtain free music through the service.
"We are gratified the District Court acted so promptly in issuing its injunction requiring Napster to remove infringing works from its system," said Hilary Rosen, president and CEO of RIAA in a statement released yesterday. "We intend to provide the notifications prescribed by the Court expeditiously, and look forward to the end of Napster's infringing activity."
If Napster cannot provide a way to prevent access to copyrighted files, the company will be ordered to shut down, Robinson said.
A problem arises on how exactly the company will block access to songs. Since users can rename files, it would be difficult to block all variant label names, Robinson said.
For instance, a record label can block the sharing of U2's "One." But as most Napster users know, this track may appear under a multitude of filenames, such as the title of the CD, the song title or the artist's name.
The burden is on Napster to determine how to block the system because "it provides the mechanism for sharing," Robinson said.
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