SJ Mercury/Reuters: RIAA Claims win in Napster battle

"A recording industry trade group claimed an initial victory on Monday in its copyright battle against computer song-swap company Napster Inc., which it alleges is a haven for music piracy on the Internet."

"U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Patel in San Francisco late on Friday rejected Napster's claim that it is a "mere conduit."

"Napster, in its motion for a summary judgment in the case, had claimed that it was merely a service provider and was not liable for the actions of its users. Napster's software works like a co-op, allowing users to trade their library of MP3 files, a compression format used to convert music on CDs into computer files. MP3.com Inc. lost a previous copyright case."

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