AUDIOGALAXY TARGETED IN NEW NAPSTER-LIKE SUIT
Contributory and “vicarious” copyright infringement were among allegations in 76-page suit filed Fri. by RIAA and National Music Publishers’ Assn. (NMPA) against Napster-like file-sharing service, Audiogalaxy.
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As with Napster, against which recording industry won preliminary injunction, complaint against Audiogalaxy, filed in U.S. Dist. Court, Manhattan, charged that its Internet site was designed “specifically to facilitate and encourage millions of anonymous users to copy and distribute infringing copies of copyrighted works by the millions, if not billions.” Audiogalaxy service is “even more egregious” than Napster’s, complaint charged, because it has features and functions not found on Napster, including music files organized by particular artist or song into single index that facilitates “the easy identification, copying and distribution of infringing files.” Audiogalaxy officials weren’t available for comment.
Musical works available on Audiogalaxy include “many recently released recordings that are available for copying within days of their release to the public and some even before their official release dates,” complaint said. It said infringed-upon songs were from “some of the most popular recording artists on some of the most well-known recording labels.” RIAA had told Audiogalaxy as far back as Feb. 2001 to remove infringing songs from its site, but it had “engaged in a series of half-hearted ineffectual attempts to screen infringing works” from system, suit said.
Citing recent appeals court ruling in Napster case, suit said Audiogalaxy had “a duty to cease their infringing activity and implement a truly effective filtering system once they have notice that infringing works are being made available for unauthorized copying and distribution.” In response to numerous RIAA demands, complaint alleged, Audiogalaxy has imposed only text-based filtering system to screen infringing music files by searching artist names and titles. Suit said Audiogalaxy was aware how easily text-based filter could be circumvented by users who creatively and deliberately misnamed infringing files. In bulletin boards “hosted and maintained” by Audiogalaxy, suit said, users frequently discuss how to circumvent system’s “paltry” filter.
Audiogalaxy’s “piratical behavior” must stop immediately, complaint charged, because it “poses grave risks” to development of legitimate online music market, and record companies “suffer tremendous levels of lost sales of albums and singles.” Moreover, infringement harms market for licensed recordings, which is “the bread and butter of songwriters and their music publishers,” suit said. Complaint seeks injunction and variety of punitive and statutory damages, including monetary awards exceeding $100 million and accounting and recovery of Audiogalaxy sales and profits.