RIAA to Dispute Napster Denial That Users Violate Copyrights
The Recording Industry Assn. of America (RIAA) will argue that song-swap company Napster Inc.’s defense that its users are not infringing copyrights has no basis in law.
“We plan to explain to the court that the law is clearly not as they claim it to be,” said Steve Fabrizio, a lawyer for the RIAA, concerning the brief filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.
The trade group represents big record companies such as Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Music Group, which is merging with EMI Group.
EMI first sued Napster for copyright infringement in December. It seeks a preliminary injunction against the service, which it calls a haven for piracy.
San Mateo, Calif.-based Napster’s software lets users swap songs by trading MP3 files, a compression format that turns music on compact discs into small computer files.
Napster declined to comment.
The company recently hired David Boies, who was the lead attorney for the Justice Department in the Microsoft Corp. antitrust case. Last week, the company contended in documents that its users were not violating copyrights by sharing files for noncommercial use.
A hearing is set for July 26 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.
The biggest entertainment stories
Get our big stories about Hollywood, film, television, music, arts, culture and more right in your inbox as soon as they publish.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
