James A. Irvin
BUSI 472
Case #5
Napster: The Debate Over Copyright Infringement
In early 1999, Shawn Fanning, a Northeastern University freshman, created Napster software. That summer he made it available for free through his Napster.com website. Napster is a peer-to-peer technology, which makes it possible for users to freely share their music files through the internet with other users all over the world. Specifically, this is how Napster works:
1.) A user sends a request for a song.
2.) Napster checks its database of music to see if the song is on the PC hard-drive of
another Napster user whose computer is turned on (Note: No music is stored on
Napster servers).
3.) Napster finds the song.
4.) Napster sends the song in MP3 format to the user who requested
On December 6, 1999 the record industry sued Napster in Federal District Court for copyright infringements, and petitioned that court to shut down Napster. On July 26, 2000 the judge issued a temporary......
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