SONG SWAPPING SHOWDOWN

[Templehorn]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2300113.stm
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<BR>Legal showdown for song swappers
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<BR>Record companies are taking aim at song-swappers
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<BR>The US music industry has taken telecoms company Verizon to court in an attempt at putting a stop to online song-swapping.
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<BR>If you got a letter from the RIIA ... I´d say there´s a good chance that you would stop
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<BR>RIIA lawyer Cary Sherman
<BR>The Recording Industry Association of America is hoping to force Verizon to reveal the identity of a subscriber who allegedly used its internet access services to trade copyrighted songs.
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<BR>The action is seen as a test case which could spell the beginning of the end for online song-swapping, an activity which the music industry claims is depriving it of tens of millions of dollars every year.
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<BR>If successful, the RIIA´s lawsuit would enable record companies to obtain the names and addresses of song-swappers accessing their copyrighted material, and send them individual written warnings ordering them to stop.
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<BR>Cease and desist
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<BR>The industry believes that most song-swappers would stop accessing copyrighted material if directly approached in this way.
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<BR>"One of the things we´re discovering is that people are not aware that that they are engaging in conduct which is clearly illegal," said RIIA lawyer Cary Sherman.
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<BR>"If you got a letter from the RIIA saying we know that you´re doing this, I´d say there´s a good chance that you would stop."
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<BR>But Verizon argues that a ruling in the RIIA´s favour would breach its subscribers´ privacy, and set a precedent which could force other internet companies to provide their customers´ names.
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<BR>"There are plenty of companies that have business problems that would like to write a letter-writing campaign to hundreds of thousands of people," said Verizon lawyer Sarah Deutsch.
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<BR>Napster launched the song-swapping revolution
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<BR>The outcome of the case will depend on the court´s interpretation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, introduced in 1998 in an attempt at protecting copyright holders from online piracy.
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<BR>Verizon argues that the Act does not oblige it to surrender subscribers´ names because it acts only as a conduit for the copyrighted material, but does not store any of it itself.
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<BR>Napster legacy
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<BR>Online song-swapping - where internet users download recorded music stored on each others´ computers - was popularised during the late 1990s by internet firm Napster.
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<BR>The company, which pioneered the software which made song-swapping possible, was temporarily shut down last year following legal action by record companies.
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<BR>But it has been succeeded by a new wave of online song-swapping services, including Kazaa, Morpheus, and Gnutella.
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<BR>Many of these new services have added technical innovations which make them less vulnerable to lawsuits from established music companies.
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