More on that long long running legal case relating to the original Napster. As previously reported, EMI, Universal and a group of publishers are suing Bertelsmann and venture capital firm Hummer Winblad (well, Universal have settled with Bertelsmann) for putting money into the original Napster operation because, the plaintiffs claim, by doing so they helped keep the legendary P2P afloat for longer and in doing so enabled more copyright violation to occur.
Hummer Winblad are counter-suing EMI and Universal over allegations that the two majors used anti-competitive practices at the time of the original Napster in order to stop the P2P company from launching a legitimate business model (because, at the time, the majors had vested interests in their own developing but ultimately unsuccessful download platforms). You'll remember that earlier this year a court ordered EMI and Universal to hand over internal papers relating to the case that weren't seen during earlier investigations into Hummer Winblad's claims because they were protected by client-attorney privilege.
Well, the latest court ruling relating to the case is concerned with internal paperwork on the Hummer Winblad side - or rather, paperwork that no longer exists. A federal judge yesterday said that bosses at the venture capital firm were guilty of "gross negligence" when they told employees to destroy emails relating to its dealings with Napster back in 2000. According to the LA Times, if and when the EMI/Universal lawsuit against Hummer Winblad gets to court the judge will have to tell the jury that the missing emails could, and may be would have hurt the venture capitalist's defence - a statement that will, erm, definitely hurt their defence.
The ruling against Hummer Winblad came about after a 2000 memo to employees from Ann Winblad was unearthed that read: "As we have all been required to surrender our Napster e-mails, this should reinforce compliance with our long-standing policies. We do not retain e-mails, it is your responsibility to delete your handled e-mails immediately."