Judge to record labels: Show me the copyrights

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal judge has given the record labels suing Napster until Thursday to produce documents proving they own the copyrights to 213 songs that once traded for free over the song-swapping service.<br> <br> U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel ordered the labels to provide certificates of copyright registration, or applications for such proof, for top-selling artists such as the Beatles and Elvis Presley.<br> <br> A special master, Neil Boorstyn, was appointed by Patel to examine the labels&#39; documents. He will file a report to the court detailing whether the labels have sufficiently established copyright ownership rights.<br> <br> It&#39;s a last grasp to limit monetary damages in a case that has slowly gone against Napster since the service went offline in July.<br> <br> Napster is poised to return as a subscription music download service, but an official launch date has not been announced. It is in a limited beta testing mode.<br> <br> Patel recently opened the door to legal discovery on Napster&#39;s claims that the labels misused their copyrights to dominate the growing online music distribution industry.<br> <br> Napster remains convinced they&#39;ve made a dent in the armor of the recording industry by convincing a judge to force the labels to turn over copyright ownership documents.<br> <br> &#34;It&#39;s rarely happened that the labels have been put through their paces in this way,&#34; said Jonathan Schwartz, Napster&#39;s general counsel.<br> <br> Cary Sherman, general counsel for the Recording Industry Association of America, has said the labels stand ready to refute Napster&#39;s claims that they&#39;ve worked in collusion to dominate the digital distribution market.<br> <br> The case is A&M Records v. Napster, No. C99-5183 <br> <br>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/3/197819