Looking for who said what in the sound world? Well there is no better place to find every audio related press release than 3DsoundSurge.!

Napster has been named as a defendant in an action brought by Metallica and its business units, E.M. Ventures and Creeping Death Music, alleging copyright infringement and related claims. Thousands of pages of paper documents, delivered today in 13 boxes, claim to identify over 300,000 Napster users who are allegedly in violation of copyright law.

In response, Napster's counsel, Laurence Pulgram, at Fenwick & West, LLP in San Francisco, stated:

``Napster intends to comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and it takes those obligations seriously. Napster will review the over 300,000 fan names that Metallica turned in as soon as possible. If the claims are submitted properly, the company will take the appropriate actions to disable the users Metallica has identified. Of course, if the band would provide the names in computerized form, rather than in tens of thousands of pages of paper intended to create a photo opp, that would expedite the process.''

``It is important to understand that Napster does not itself make available any MP3 materials over the Internet. Napster merely provides computer software that allows its users to choose which files to make available to each other, and which files to download. As we told Metallica's lawyer on April 20, Napster is able to respond to claims of copyright infringement by disabling the access of identified users, not by excluding particular songs or artists. So the upshot of Metallica's notice may be to prevent its fans from using Napster at all.''

Napster, Inc. also stated through its 19 year-old founder, Shawn Fanning:

``I'm a huge Metallica fan and therefore really sorry that they're going in this direction. If we got the opportunity to explain to the band why Napster exists and why fans enjoy Napster, perhaps we could bring all of this to a peaceful conclusion. Napster respects the role of artists and is very interested in working with Metallica and the music industry to develop a workable model that is fair to everyone while unleashing the power of the Internet to build enthusiasm for music.''

Napster's policies regarding the report of alleged copyright violations and its terms of use can be viewed online at its web site http://www.napster.com

About Napster

Located in San Mateo, CA, Napster Inc. is the provider of the popular filesharing technology, which currently enables users to locate, download and play MP3 music files from one convenient, easy-to-use interface. Napster will, in the future, use their technology for other filesharing purposes. Napster is also home to the Internet's largest and most rabid community of music fans. The company is leveraging the passion for its product to become the most powerful tool to help others discover new music and artists. Napster's membership is already expanding faster than such high growth Internet application companies as Hotmail or ICQ.

SOURCE: Napster, Inc.