THE NAPSTER CASE DRAGS ON

There's more to the legal battle between Bertelsmann and EMI & Universal over the former's investment in Napster when it was useful ("illegal") than merely watching three-quarters of the RIAA/BPI fight themselves over the very file sharing issues they're meant to be united on, but don't let that spoil your enjoyment of the struggling.

There is something quite crucial bubbling out amongst the name-calling, though: Judge Patel of the US District Court of San Francisco has ruled as part of the case that "placing a song on a central index was not a crime and that the plaintiffs would have to prove specific cases of illegal downloads."

Now, is it just us, or has Judge Patel basically also ruled that the movie and record industry attacks on Bittorrent search engines don't actually have any legal basis - those services which are being raided and closed down, surely, are just providing a central index. Interesting.

music napster emi bittorrent downloads