Petteri Pyyny
20 Feb 2002 5:14
In January, Judge Marilyn Patel ordered both parties, Napster and Big Five record labels to negotiate for a month in order to find a comfortable licensing agreement and settlement in case that has been going on for almost three years now.
Now the 30-day deadline is over and nothing has happened in terms of licensing labels' content to Napster or to settle the case outside courtrooms -- so now they're heading back to court.
This is really bad for the labels, because Judge Patel told in January that she will launch an investigation whether labels are misusing their copyrights and don't allow other companies to license their content under fair terms. And now, when the negotiations with Napster have collapsed, it is very likely that she will execute these investigations.