onth before the finished version of Napster would be completed, Shawn’s Uncle John incorporated the company, John got 70%; Shawn got 30%. While Shawn is the public face of Napster, today he owns less then 10% of the upstart and is not involved in the company’s business decisions. Shawn Fanning has no senior management position and isn’t on the board. Mostly, he works on developing the company’s software. Shawn first wanted to test the finished Napster out on some 30 friends he met in a chat room and told them not to spread the word. They obviously couldn’t resist as 3,000 to 4,000 people downloaded Napster of the site. With this John had reassurance that Napster was going to be a hit. With Napster users quickly growing in number and clogging up Internet servers in many major universities and offices it was time to investigate the potential legal problems. John brought in an experienced lawyer in terms of how copyright laws apply to digital technologies. All the while though John was also selling shares to those interested in investing in what seemed like an exciting new technological advancement. To cope with this growth John knew Napster needed to bring in a CEO to run the company. They brought in Eileen Richardson who would turn out to be more trouble then help especially with handling the delicate legal issues. The problem with Richardson was that she was inexperienced and confrontational. The RIAA (Recording Industry of America) sued Napster on December 7, 1999 after long talks were held from the late summer 1999. Many believe this could have been avoided and the two could work something out if Richardson was more understanding and less confrontational. She was often heard screaming at music execs on the phone. Napster would win this first battle but by just barely and there would still be a few more other court cases for them on the horizon. The RIAA encouraged its musicians to speak out against Napste...
