New copyright suit hits file swappers



A group representing music publishers and songwriters on Tuesday filed a federal suit against some makers of file-swapping software, marking the latest in a string of legal tangles over copyright infringement on the Internet.

The National Music Publisher's Association (NMPA), which represents the owners of most songs published in the United States, said it filed suit in Los Angeles federal court against the parent companies of file-swapping services MusicCity, Grokster and Kazaa.

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"This lawsuit seeks to protect the rights of music creators from flagrant piracy," Edward Murphy, president of the NMPA, said in a statement. "As the legitimate market for online music develops, however, it is also about fundamental fairness to the music services that wish to comply with the law by taking licenses."

The lawsuit is the latest chapter in an ongoing saga aimed at stopping consumers from trading copyrighted musical and other works over the Internet through peer-to-peer networks, a practice popularized by Napster. In October, the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America sued MusicCity, Grokster and Kazaa in a move to prevent people from trading copies of music and films over the Web.

I'm very curious about the outcome of these suits, if KaZaa etc win this, it's a big win for file swapping, if they loose, how many others will be shut down ? On the other hand, how many CAN they shut down ?

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Source: ZDnet.com

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