U.S. court rules Napster guilty of copyright infringement

The U.S. Federal Appellate Court ordered Napster Monday to stop its free-of-charge distribution of music files, ruling that the popular MP3 site infringed on the copyrights of record companies.

The three-member court in San Francisco also ordered Napster to remove a connection equipment that enables subscribers to exchange MP3 song files with one another.

However, the court said that the judgment in the first trial, which also called for Napster`s closure, was too extensive, and instructed them to rule again.

Napster will be able to continue operating until the Federal District Court hands down a new judgement. In the meantime, David Boies, Napster`s lawyer, said that the judgment was designed to deprive about 50 million Napster subscribers of their rights.

Accordingly, Napster plans to submit an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court or request a retrial at the appellate court, while seeking ways to solve the online copyright problem through the U.S. Congress, he said.