rograms such as Napster, one is committing copyright infringement. The recordcompanies are so angry about all of this that they have decided to take it to court. Since they cannot sue all of the thousands and thousands of Napster users who are committing copyrightinfringement, they have decided to sue Napster itself instead. This would effectively eliminatethe source of the problem as most MP3 exchange today is done through Napster. The problem isthat Napster is never actually committing copyright infringement, as Napster is never actually inpossession of illegal MP3 files. They are never stored in, nor do they travel through Napster’sserver. The server merely record the name and location of the files and routes users together inorder to exchange files. Once the users have been connected the file is transferred directly fromone user to another and the Napster server is no longer involved. Because of this design, therecord companies have decided to accuse Napster of facilitating copyright infringement. Thismeans that they did not actually steal any music but they help user do so. Right now the case isstill going on. In early August, the courts decided that Napster must shut down its server,effectively cutting off all of its users. This was handed down in the form of an injunction.Shortly after, the decision was appealed and the case continued. Napster went back online, and the court case is continued. Recently Bertelsmann, owner of BMG Records, dropped its part ofthe suit and settled out of court with Napster. Some individual bands have also decided to actagainst Napster, but in a different way. Metallica, a band widely known as the most popularheavy metal band today, hired a consulting firm to record the username and IP addresses of userswho had illegally shared or downloaded their songs over a period of days. They delivered the listof hundreds of thousands of users to Napster headquarters and demanded that these users bekicked of...
