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"The fact is, however, that in order for the Internet to thrive as an e-commerce medium for the benefit of everyone, all copyright users must be treated equally."
——Edward P. Murphy, NMPA President/CEO
Thursday, December 7, 2000

PUBLISHERS SUE UNIVERSAL
OVER STREAMING

The Irony Is That It’s For Copyright Infringement
Somewhere in San Diego, Michael Robertson is smiling. And the Napster folks are probably pleased as well. The only people who are unhappy today are Universal Music and the National Music Publishers Assocation.

The NMPA's barristers filed suit today in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging that Universal, specifically Jimmy and Doug's Farmclub.com, is engaging in copyright violation. The twist? The NMPA is claiming that by providing streaming on demand for songs such as "White Christmas" and "Love Me Tender," Universal had to create a catalog of the songs, making unlicensed copies the same way that MP3.com did for its My.MP3.com service.

And, as you know because you read this site twice a day, just three weeks ago, Judge Jed Rakoff, who sits on the bench in the very same court district that today's suit was filed in, stipulated that MP3.com pay Universal $53.4 million for copyright infringment.

Said NMPA President/CEO Edward P. Murphy: "It is regrettable that the American music copyright community has been forced to bring this lawsuit in order to preserve its rights. The fact is, however, that in order for the Internet to thrive as an e-commerce medium for the benefit of everyone, all copyright users must be treated equally. None is above the others in having some special authority to engage in unlicensed use of copyrighted music works."

 
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