Court Says Aimster Must Stay Offline

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Court Says Aimster Must Stay Offline
By Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Aimster, the online service being sued by major record labels for allowing its users to copy songs for free, must remain shut down until it can prove its users do more than illegally trade copyrighted material, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Monday.

The ruling by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago further muddies the legal waters surrounding Aimster and other "peer-to-peer" song-swap services that recording companies blame for a sharp decline in CD sales.

Various courts have shut down Aimster, Napster (news - web sites), and other online music file sharing services, agreeing with the recording industry's argument that they are responsible for massive copyright infringement over their networks.

But a U.S. judge in Los Angeles ruled in April that the Grokster and Morpheus services should not be shut down because they do not control what is traded over their networks, much as videocassette makers should not be held liable if their users tape copyrighted shows.

Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit said that though there were merits to both arguments, Aimster could likely be held responsible for infringing activity because its tutorials encouraged users to download copyrighted songs.

"The evidence that we have summarized does not exclude the possibility of substantial noninfringing uses of the Aimster system, but the evidence is sufficient ... to shift the burden of production to Aimster to demonstrate that its service has substantial noninfringing uses," Posner wrote for the three-judge panel that heard the appeal.

Aimster would do better if it could prove that users traded music that was not copyrighted, or used the service to access copies of music they already own, he wrote.

Aimster founder Johnny Deep said that the ruling would make it easier for him to prove that his service had substantial legitimate uses when a full trial takes place. The courts so far have only ruled on the question of whether Aimster should be shut down during the trial.

"I'm shut down, fine, whatever," Deep said. "I want to get to trial. They can't drag this on forever."

A recording-industry trade group said the ruling would help its case against Grokster and Morpheus, which is currently on appeal, as well as its planned lawsuits against individuals who trade copyrighted songs online.

"A peer-to-peer service is not off the hook simply because it claims there may be legitimate users of its network," said Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry Association of America (news - web sites). "When these types of services exist primarily as a vehicle for copyright infringement, they have an obligation to try and reduce the illegal activity occurring on their networks."

RIAA member companies include AOL Time Warner Inc.,(NYSE:AOL - news). Sony Corp (news - web sites).(6758.T)., Vivendi Universal(NYSE:V - news), Bertelsmann AG (news - web sites) (BERT.UL) and EMI Group Plc (news - web sites)(EMI.L).

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...h_aimster_dc_1

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