Napster has been given until January 2003 to prove its claim
that major record labels have misused copyrights and impeded
competition. However, the beleaguered song-swapping service lost an
appeal that would have allowed it to resurrect its free service.
The court described a previous shutdown order as “a proper exercise
of the District Court’s power to enfore compliance with the
modified preliminary injunction.”27 Mar 2002
If the court finds that the labels misused their copyrights, they will be unable to seek damages from Napster for copyright infringement during the period of misuse.
In court yesterday, US District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel also granted the Californian company access to certain record company documents, including documents which have been given to the Justice Department as part of an antitrust investigation into MusicNet and PressPlay, joint ventures set up by the five major labels.