FITUG e.V.

Förderverein Informationstechnik und Gesellschaft

Howard King, Esq.: "Hundreds of thousands of people are breaking into record stores and stealing CDs and tapes"

http://writ.findlaw.com/commentary/20000501_king.html


HOWARD KING

WHY METALLICA SUED NAPSTER

At this moment, all around the world, hundreds of thousands of people are breaking into record stores and stealing CDs and tapes. Or they might as well be.

The people I’m talking about are using software called Napster, which can be downloaded for free off the Internet. [...]

[...]

The bottom line is that using Napster to distribute copyrighted music is stealing, and while Napster may have blocked a few hundred thousand users from doing so, the looting is going to continue. Just because fans think they can hide behind technology to take what isn’t theirs doesn’t change the moral or legal implications of what they are doing. Will Metallica lose fans over the stand they have taken? Perhaps. But Napster proponents who see no issue with downloading an artist’s album for free should ask themselves if they would accept working for a year without getting paid. Metallica’s true fans will support the band against Napster.

Howard King is a partner in King, Purtich, Holmes, Paterno & Berliner, a Los Angeles law firm specializing in intellectual property and the representation of musicians.


Zurück