Reconciling Napster with the Sony decision and recent amendments to copyright law

Abstract

The showdown between Napster and the recording industry was followed by intense interest by music fans, recording artists, the entertainment industry and their cadre of intellectual property attorneys as well as scholars sensing a pivotal moment where a disruptive technology once again challenges the status quo. Peer-to-peer technology which allows one internet users to communicate directly with each other, was developed by a nineteen-year-old college student, and this innovation forever altered the structure of the content industry. Napster at once became an instant hit with music fans, and the scourge of the recording industry. Rather than engineer an innovation in response to this assault to its legacy business model, the recording industry filed a lawsuit asserting copyright infringement. The case provoked discussion of the technology, the law, and the regulation of the internet. The resolution of this litigation is a landmark in internet regulation and copyright law.