Want to sue Napster? Take a number.

Posts: 1592
From: Bowling Green, KY, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 03-07-2001 04:58 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for KennyLee        Edit/Delete Message

Now, their lawyers are probably starting to figure out that the remedy provided in the injunction is probably the best remedy they can ever get. But hey, lawyers get hundreds of dollars and hour. So they are happy to sue the shit out of Napster. Or anybody else.

http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-5051378.html?tag=mn_hd

quote:

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A critical date will be April 10, when a federal court will hear separate arguments on whether to allow music publishers and independent musicians to turn their lawsuits into class actions. If the court allows that to happen, it could exponentially expand the universe of people with claims against the company.

Regardless, independent musicians or record labels that haven't already filed suit against the company can do so with reasonable chances of success, Rubin said.

The trick for this late wave of plaintiffs will be to prove that Napster meant to violate copyrights, bringing the case into the expensive legal category of "willful infringement."

If the copyright holders can prove that Napster had such an intention, they could win damages of up to $150,000 per song traded. If not, that could drop to just $500 per song.

Early court documents filed by the record industry helped convince U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel that Napster was aware that copyrighted works were being traded on the service. But until the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that Napster members were almost certainly involved in direct copyright infringement, the company had argued that its own actions were wholly legal. That could make "willful infringement" difficult to prove, some attorneys say.

Nevertheless, the sheer mass of new plaintiffs piling into court against Napster will cause some logistical and financial headaches--and will certainly help speed the disappearance of music from Napster's service.

EMusic has already submitted a list of close to 30,000 songs to Napster, which until recently the company said it had no technology to block. At least some of those songs were included in the first filter thrown up by the music-swapping company last Sunday.

"For over six months, Napster Inc. has flatly rejected our requests to filter out and effectively block EMusic tracks from being traded on their system without our permission," EMusic Chief Executive Gene Hoffman said. "In light of this position, Napster's ability to quickly implement such a filtering system over this past weekend shows the company's true motive--to unfairly build a business upon the copyrighted works of others."

EMusic's suit was filed in a San Francisco court, and is likely to appear in front of Patel alongside the other Napster lawsuits.

Producers of the Grammy Awards sued Napster on Tuesday, contending that copies of songs performed at last month's music awards ceremony were being traded through the service. Those included performances by U2, Madonna, and a duet by Elton John and Eminem, which now may not be released commercially, according to officials of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

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Seems to me that the impact of yesterday's injunction has not set in yet. The current srategy of "hammer Napster's bank account with lawsuits" is still the deal.

Orrin Hatch is having a hearing in April also. I'll bring that info here in a few minutes.

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Posts: 551
From: Red Deer, AB, Canada
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 03-07-2001 06:17 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for dustyw1        Edit/Delete Message

Dusty

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Posts: 231
From: wethersfield,CT, hartford
Registered: Jun 2000

posted 03-07-2001 06:21 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for dond        Edit/Delete Message

If the insurance company wins, MP3.com is out another couple of hundred million cash!

Looks like both big players are in very big shit!

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Posts: 1592
From: Bowling Green, KY, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 03-07-2001 09:56 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for KennyLee        Edit/Delete Message

quote:

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Originally posted by dond:
If the insurance company wins, MP3.com is out another couple of hundred million cash!

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Damn, deel! This explains why MP3.com is so money hungry on the artists all of a sudden.

They found out that their insurance may be gone.

Whoa!

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Posts: 244
From: earth
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 03-07-2001 10:37 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for deel        Edit/Delete Message

quote:

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Damn, deel!

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i'm not even on this thread.

please follow the rules, don't confuse things more.

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Posts: 546
From: Seattle, Washington, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 03-07-2001 11:55 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Moses     Edit/Delete Message

quote:

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Originally posted by deel:
i'm not even on this thread.

please follow the rules, don't confuse things more.

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Isn't that funny the way power of suggestion works. I knew it was dond who said that, but after reading KL's post, I was thinking "Deel."

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Posts: 1592
From: Bowling Green, KY, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 03-08-2001 12:04 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for KennyLee        Edit/Delete Message

As in Don Deel.

As in Done Deal.

My bad.

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*actually, I was in a songwriting/recording session and I was posting between takes. T'was a rush job.

[This message has been edited by deel (edited 03-08-2001).]

[This message has been edited by KennyLee (edited 03-08-2001).]

Posts: 244
From: earth
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 03-08-2001 08:32 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for deel        Edit/Delete Message

or maybe it's just the "d"

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Posts: 231
From: wethersfield,CT, hartford
Registered: Jun 2000

posted 03-08-2001 08:47 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for dond        Edit/Delete Message

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Posts: 244
From: earth
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 03-09-2001 12:26 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for deel        Edit/Delete Message

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