Bertelsmann/Napster Lawsuit May Be Dead In The Water
from the not-so-fast dept
We’ve pointed out what a bad thing it would be for the various music companies and artists to be successful in their attempt to sue Bertelsmann for simply investing in Napster. It would completely turn around what it meant to be an investor in a company, and open up all sorts of liability where none previously existed (with good reason). Now, the Constitutional Court in Germany has blocked the lawsuit for six months, which could effectively kill the lawsuit entirely. The court is wondering if the lawsuits are constitutional – saying that they look as though they’re designed to use legal reasons to steal market share. Hopefully this will end the nonsense – but with the music industry the nonsense never seems to end. In the meantime, Roxio has come out with (not at all surprising – or even very interesting) details on their plans to relaunch Napster as a weak, industry supported music download service with all of the usual restrictions.
