Tech, Hardware 'Friends' Go To Bat For Napster

Several industry groups representing a high-powered assemblage of consumer electronics, computer, technology, and Internet companies have filed amicus curiae briefs with the court hearing Napster's appeal. While not taking any position on RIAA v. Napster per se, the "friend of the court" briefs contend that a lower-court's ruling in ordering a temporary injunction against the file-sharing site erred in its application of existing standards or laws, and that if let stand would create precedents harmful to the growth of the online and technology industries.

The briefs were filed Friday with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which last month granted a stay of the injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel pending appeal. Those filing included the Consumer Electronics Assn. (CEA), whose members include Microsoft, Panasonic, Sanyo, and Sony Electronics; the Digital Music Assn. (DiMA), which includes AOL, RealNetworks, and Liquid Audio; and lobby group NetCoalition, whose members include Amazon.com, Yahoo!, and Lycos.

The CEA and DiMA filings home in on the so-called "Betamax standard" set by the Supreme Court in 1984's Sony Corp. v. Universal City Studios case, which required that technologies such as the VCR be judged on whether they are "capable of substantial noninfringing uses." DiMA contends that Judge Patel substituted a new "preponderance of use" and "founders' intent" test. NetCoalition contends in part that the judge incorrectly applied a section of 1998's Digital Millennium Copyright Act as regards limitations on liability of service providers.

The RIAA will file its response in the appeals case on Sept. 8. No date for oral arguments has yet been set.