Napster-rechtszaak doorverwezen

MrBig schrijft dat er eindelijk nieuws is omtrent de Napster-rechtszaak die vandaag voorkwam:

"De uitspraak was simpel: de zaak wordt op een te hoog niveau uitgevochten en is teruggestuurd naar de districtsrechtbank."

Volgens CNET mag Napster wel doorgaan met haar activiteiten, maar is ze verplicht om alle auteurswettelijk beschermde platen te weren die platenmaatschappijen opgeven. Dat beslaat dus zo'n beetje de hele populaire muziekbranche. De uiteindelijke uitspraak zal echter gedaan moeten worden door een lagere rechtbank. Hieronder heb je een aantal quotes uit het artikel:

The judges stopped short of ordering that the infringing music-swapping stop immediately, as a lower court had done in July. They said the earlier decision had been "overbroad," and send it back with instructions for creating a new injunction. Some injunction was "not only warranted but required," the court wrote.

"Napster may be held liable for contributory copyright infringement only to the extent that Napster knows of specific infringing files," the court said. "We direct that the preliminary injunction fashioned by the district court prior to this appeal shall remain stayed until it is modified by the district court to conform to the requirements of this opinion."

That means that Napster will have to block only those specific files it is told to block by record companies. But that could be millions of songs, and sets the stage for new but still sweeping restrictions on what can be traded through Napster.

Emusic Chairman Robert Kohn said that his company alone had already presented Napster with specific information on songs that could leave the swapping service liable for millions, or even hundreds of millions of dollars, in damages. [break]Er is dus nog geen definitief besluit genomen, maar de kans is groot dat platenmaatschappijen dadelijk tienduizenden nummers mogen gaan opgeven die vervolgens moeten worden geweerd van de uitwisseldienst. [/break] "They are already on notice for tens of thousands of files from us," Kohn said. "We've been giving them hundreds of notices a day for the last few months."

Met dank aan de overige tientallen mensen die ons dit nieuws kwamen vertellen.