Bertelsmann, owners of the BMG bit of SonyBMG, have reached an agreement with one of the many companies still chasing them through the courts over their support of the old Napster.
As previously reported, in the months prior to the original Napster's bankruptcy, Bertelsmann providing the P2P network with funding as they desperately tried, unsuccessfully, to find a business model that would win the approval of the other major labels.
After Napster's bankruptcy, a number of music companies argued that Bertelsmann's funding had allowed the Napster P2P network to continue operating for several months longer than it would otherwise have been able to, and that therefore the German entertainment conglom should accept some liability for all the copyright theft conducted on the P2P network during that period. Needless to say, Bertelsmann disagreed saying they did not take any equity in Napster (though, had the project been a success, they would have done) and therefore, they argue, they never undertook any liability for the P2P company's activities.
But alas legal action brought against them by major labels and publishing companies continues to rumble on. As part of those legal wranglings
Bertelsmann has agreed to pay Michigan company Bridgeport Music a $50,000 settlement in return for them dropping allegations that Bertelsmann facilitated online piracy. Remains to be seen if the other companies pursuing the German major accept similar settlements, or if they argue that the fact Bertelsmann is paying any settlement fees at all implies some kind of liability regarding
Napster's actions.