DRE DOES THE NAPSTER BEAT-DOWN

On the heels of its precedent setting tour sponsorship deal with Limp Bizkit, Napster was slapped with another lawsuit.

As expected, rapper Dr. Dre and his record label, Aftermath Entertainment, filed suit against the online file-sharing provider after issuing a warning last week.

Dre and his lawyers fired off a letter to Napster last week giving the company until Friday (4/ 21) to remove all of his songs from its pool of available downloads. However, it was learned that once a song is posted on Napster, the company has no way of removing it from the directory, sources said. So, a lawsuit was inevitable.

Dre followed through on his threat Tuesday by filing suit against Napster in U.S. Federal Court in Los Angeles.

As Metallica did before, the rapper is charging Napster with copyright infringement and unlawful use of a digital audio interface device. The suit states that "Napster has built a business based on large-scale piracy."

Dre released his own statement regarding the suit, noting, "I don't like people stealing my music."

Of course, there are plenty of people who would say the same thing about sampling, but that's another story for another edition of "Daily Double."

Dre's attorney, who is also handling Metallica's suit, has charged that Napster responded to the rapper's warning letter with a "disingenuous offer," prompting the legal action.