Claiming that MP3 traders have the "moral fiber of common looters,"
Metallica sued unnamed users of the Napster MP3-trading program, along with
the Napster company and three universities Thursday (April 13), claiming
copyright infringement.
The lawsuit seeks damages of up to $100,000 per illegally traded song, as
well as a permanent injunction against the phenomenally popular Napster
software.
Trading music without the permission of the copyright holder is "morally and
legally wrong," the hard-rock band's drummer, Lars Ulrich, said in a press
release.
"[It's] sickening to know that our art is being traded like a commodity
rather than the art that it is." � Lars Ulrich, Metallica drummer
Napster, made by a San Mateo, Calif., company of the same name, streamlines
the process of exchanging near-CD-quality MP3 files. The program has taken
the online-music community by storm; at any given time, hundreds of
thousands of songs from Metallica to jazz great John Coltrane to country
star Garth Brooks to classical composer Ludwig van Beethoven are available
for downloading.
The sole purpose of Napster, the band alleges in its suit, is to abet and
encourage music piracy. It goes on to say that colleges that could stop the
program instead allow it to flourish online.
"The last link in the chain are the end users of these stolen music works,
students of these universities and others who exhibit the moral fiber of
common looters loading up shopping carts because 'everybody else is doing
it,' " the suit says.
Napster, Metallica Fans Baffled By Suit
Representatives for Napster could not be reached for comment. Yale
University, the University of Southern California and Indiana University are
also named in the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Central
District of California.
The band promises in the suit to amend its case with the names of additional
offending universities, as well as students at the schools who have used
Napster to trade Metallica songs.
"This is just not the way to go," said Chad Paulson, an Indiana University
sophomore who spearheaded a nationwide petition to keep schools from banning
Napster.
Comparing Napster users to looters "is a pretty intense thing to say," said
Nick Henning, an IU freshman who described himself as both a Napster user
and a Metallica fan.
"I understand where they're coming from, but at some point when they were
getting started, they just wanted to get their music out there. The MP3
format is one easy way to do that," Henning said.
The suit also invokes racketeering laws best known for prosecuting members
of the Mafia. It alleges that Napster, the schools and students are
colluding to engage in piracy, and in the process are harming the band's
business.
"We take our craft � whether it be the music, the lyrics, or the photos and
artwork � very seriously, as do most artists," Ulrich said in his statement.
"It is therefore sickening to know that our art is being traded like a
commodity rather than the art that it is."
First Band To Sue Napster
In December, the Recording Industry Association of America, which represents
the industry's major labels, sued Napster, claiming the program contributes
to copyright infringement. Metallica, one of the world's most popular
hard-rock bands, is the first band to sue Napster.
Napster has become particularly popular on college campuses where students
have access to extremely fast Internet connections.
Indiana University spokesperson J.T. Forbes and USC spokesperson Bob
Calverle said they had not seen the suit and could not comment.
Representatives from Yale could not be reached.
Last year, Metallica streamed over the Internet their latest album, S&M,
which includes such songs as "Master of Puppets" (RealAudio excerpt) cut
live with a symphony. Streaming music can be listened to but not downloaded
and saved.
The band also is known for allowing fans to tape its concerts and trade the
recordings.
Steve Jones, a communications professor and intellectual-property expert at
the University of Illinois at Chicago, said he does not expect other
musicians to follow Metallica's lead. But he does picture colleges banning
Internet traffic to Napster in response to the suit.
"I see universities hitting the panic button," he said. "I don't see many
university attorneys justifying to administrators that Napster should
continue to be available."
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