Just when you thought the word Napster had been confined to music history, BMG, the major label who bought the MP3 swap site and tried to relaunch it as a legal concern (unsuccessfully of course) have been taken to court by a group of music publishers who say Bertlasmann bought some responsibility for the copyright violations committed through the site when they started bank rolling the company.
Among the songwriters represented by the case are Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, the duo behind 'Jailhouse Rock', 'Hound Dog' and 'Stand By Me'. On the publishing side Frank Music and Peer International are backing the case for $17bn damages for copyright violations.
BMG won't be impressed by the latest developments. They pumped an estimated $85 million into the service in an attempt to convert its 80 million subscriber base into a legal going convern. But users turned off and found other illegal but free alternatives. Then, when BMG tried to buy the brand name outright for $9 million when Napster faced banckcruptcy, a judge ruled to deal was unfair to Napster's other creditors - BMG would get ownership of the brand, other creditors would lose much of the money owed to them (though BMG might argue creditors would have faired better than in the eventual sell off to Roxio for just $5 million). BMG had hoped Napster could become a distant memory, especially after chief executive Thomas Middelhoff, who had masterminded the Napster take over, left the Group.
They will now be looking for holes in the 18-page lawsuit that alleges that by extending the life of Napster, Bertelsmann allowed greater numbers of copyrighted works to be shared illegally. It accuses Bertelsmann of "wilful participation" in the "widespread infringement" of music by Napster, saying that the company "made a deliberate and calculated business decision to continue the infringing service in order to preserve Napster's valuable user base for Bertelsmann's own benefit."