Rapper Dr. Dre is getting ready to deliver a list of Napster users that may have violated his copyrights by trading digital music on the site, his lawyer said Wednesday.
NetPD, the consulting firm that produced a lengthy list of Metallica fans who downloaded the group's music last month, is monitoring the site this week, said attorney Howard King, who represents the artists in identical copyright infringement lawsuits against Napster .
"We need to see what Dr. Dre submits," said Napster's lawyer, Laurence Pulgram.
The move follows Napster's removal this week of 317,377 users that Metallica charged had used the service to pirate its songs.
Those users can apply for reinstatement, Pulgram said.
No way, fans said.
"As an avid Napster user and Metallica fan, I just uninstalled the app, reinstalled it, and changed my user name. Voila! Free music!" said one ZDNet News reader who identified himself as "Dan." Dozens of other readers said they would do the same thing.
Napster explanation to users
In an explanation on the Napster Web site, the company told users it removed the names in an effort to comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
"Conversely, the DMCA affords certain protections to users," the company statement read. "Namely, a user who is banned from the service deserves the opportunity for reinstatement in the event that there has been a genuine mistake or misidentification of the materials made available by that user. Users who feel they have been banned as a result of a mistake or misidentification of content may submit a 'counter notification' form."
Pulgram said the names of each Napster user who files a counter notification would be sent to Metallica, and the band would have 10 days to decide whether to take action, according to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
"If Metallica chooses to go after a person who's disputed their removal, Napster won't reinstate them," Pulgram said.
"Napster would like nothing better than to portray this as a fight between Metallica and its fans," said King, adding that the band's reaction to the removal by Napster was mixed.
Metallica remains angry
"Metallica remains angry that its request to have its songs removed from Napster's directory was rejected and that Napster made Metallica go out and get user names," he said.
Music fans demanded a Metallica boycott after the band sued the wildly popular music-sharing site. Band members tried to patch things up in statements on the Metallica Web site.
"We are definitely NOT trying to stop any legitimate trading of fan things on Internet sites or anywhere," vocalist James Hetfield told fans. "We got our name around through tape trading. We love the idea of core fans trading things, whether it be a live show from Greenland or (guitarist Kirk Hammett's) sweaty underwear."
He added, "I think the real fan knows that the Napster thing could kill Metallica, and music as we know it."
A US federal judge ruled last week in a lawsuit filed by the Recording Industry Association of America that Napster could not claim protection as an Internet service provider under the DMCA.
But Pulgrum said the RIAA itself had argued that another so-called safe harbor for information location tools would apply. The provision protects search engines, databases and lists of links, among other things.
