Judge orders Napster off­line

Napster was dealt another serious legal setback when a federal judge ordered the song­swap company remain off­line until it can fully comply with an injunction to remove all copyright music.

That means Napster, which allowed users to download free music files, will need to delay a comeback after being off­line for more than a week.

In a closed door meeting with US District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel on Wednesday, Napster said it was about to restart the music trading service after a short hiatus as the company retooled its song screening software.

Napster counsel told the judge the company felt it could block more than 99 percent of all infringing song files, but the judge shot back, telling Napster it needed to block 100 percent of unauthorized copyright songs or stay off­line indefinitely.

Napster chief executive Hank Barry blasted Patel's ruling. "The Court's ruling today that Napster must block all file transfers threatens all peer­to­peer file sharing over the Internet and is at direct odds with the 9th Circuit's ruling," Barry said.

"While we are disappointed by this ruling, we will work with the technical expert to enable file transfers as soon as possible and we are continuing full steam ahead toward the launch of our new service later this summer."

Napster plans to comply with Patel's request to remain off­line. However, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals notified recording industry attorneys Wednesday that Napster plans to appeal Patel's latest order by noon Thursday. The recording industry will have until Friday to respond to that request.

Napster's service has been down since July 2 and there is no date set for its return online.

Napster has tried to comply with an injunction ordering it to police its system closely for infringing files, only to produce mild results. The company has been buying time until it can launch its much anticipated paid subscription service, due this summer.

The recording industry, which sued Napster in 1999 for copyright infringement, was elated with Patel's order.

In a statement, Hilary Rosen, president of the Recording Industry Association of America, said: "While we appreciate that Napster is attempting to migrate to a legitimate business model, its inability to prevent copyright infringement from occurring on its system has only hampered the development of the marketplace in which it now hopes to compete.

"It is difficult for the legitimate online marketplace to compete with free," Rosen said.

Major labels will attempt to garner their own online following with paid online music services. Major labels Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group have formed a joint venture called pressplay. AOL Time Warner Inc., EMI Group PLC, and Bertelsmann AG are set to launch a competing music download service called MusicNet, of which Napster also is a business partner. Both businesses are set to launch later this year.

Copyright expert Allen Baden, a partner at Kenyon & Kenyon, said Napster's admission to Patel might have only served to remind the judge the company's song swap system is still short of perfection.

"What I think it is a sort of damning admission that they don't have it yet," Baden said.