Metallica Sue Napster for Copyright
Infringement
You just knew an artist would eventually pick
up the gauntlet and sue Napster, the company
responsible for software that enables the free
sharing and distribution of MP3 files. Metallica,
the no-nonsense San Francisco-based metal
statesmen, have filed suit in U.S. District
Court Central District of California against
Napster Inc., the University of Southern
California, Yale Univesity and Indiana
University. The group alleges that Napster and
the schools committed copyright
infringements, unlawful use of digital audio
interface device and violations of the
Racketeering Influenced & Corrupt
Organizations Act (RICO). In non-legalese,
Metallica and their publishing company claim
that as the copyright owners of their sound
recordings and musical compositions, they
have the exclusive right to commercially
distribute their songs and derive income from
them. Basically, Metallica are pissed off that
webheads are rampantly swapping copies of
Master of Puppets and And Justice for All,
and not cutting them in.
"With each project, we go through a grueling
creative process to achieve music that we feel
is representative of Metallica at that very
moment in our lives," said Metallica drummer
Lars Ulrich. "We take our craft -- whether it be
the music, the lyrics, or the photos and
artwork -- very seriously, as do most artists. It
is therefore sickening to know that our art is
being traded like a commodity rather than the
art that it is. From a business standpoint, this
is about piracy -- taking something that
doesn't belong to you; and that is morally and
legally wrong. The trading of such information
-- whether it's music, videos, photos, or
whatever -- is, in effect, trafficking in stolen
goods."
The suit further states that "Napster has
devised and distributed software whose sole
purpose is to permit Napster to profit by
abetting and encouraging the pirating of the
creative efforts of the world's most admired and
successful musical artists. Facilitating that
effort are the hypocritical universities and
colleges who could easily block this insidious
and ongoing thievery scheme. The last link in
the chain are the end users of the stolen
musical 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.'"
JAAN UHELSZKI
(April 14, 2000)
