Anxious weekend for Napster

Napster's days could be numbered

A key legal ruling which could effectively shut down the popular online song-swapping service Napster is to be announced on Monday.

Fans of the online song-swapping service are expected to spend the weekend downloading music ahead of the federal appeals court's decision on whether or not to slap an injunction on Napster.

The three judges, which have issued rulings in favour of technology in the past year despite concerns of copyright infringement, heard the recording industry's case in October against Napster.

The court battle is being seen as the first big battle over copyrights in cyberspace, and is expected to define how books, movies and music are distributed on the internet.

Copyright accusation

The recording industry wants Napster shut down, alleging it is contributing to widespread copyright infringement and is pursuing legal action against the company in federal court in San Francisco.

Napster has more than 40 million users who can pass along MP3 music files, most of which have been copied from CDs.

The question before the appeals court is whether to remove Napster from the internet or allow it to keep operating while that case continues.

In a ruling in July last year, a US district court judge said Napster was guilty of wholesale copyright infringement and ordered it shut down pending a full trial.

But the appeal court granted a last-minute stay, saying it needed more time to consider.

Legal twists

Since the ruling last July, Napster signed an alliance with German media giant Bertelsmann and has indicated it would charge users a fee that could be used for royalties.

Industry observers expect that if an injunction is ordered, it could take days or weeks to take effect and that Napster's legal team would appeal against it.

If the injunction is overturned, the recording companies involved in this case, could take it to the Supreme Court.