Online song-swapping site Napster got a new ray of hope Wednesday when a federal judge questioned whether the record industry's plans for authorized digital music licensing could amount to misuse of their own copyrights.
The comments of Marilyn Patel, U.S. District Judge for the northern district of California, came during a hearing on the record labels' request for summary judgment in their 2-year-old lawsuit, which accuses Napster of helping its users violate copyrights.
Since the record industry has already won an injunction that led Napster to suspend its service, a summary judgment in the copyright case would render a full trial necessary.
Napster attorneys said even if the company contributed to copyright violations, the law prevents an enforcement action if the labels are misusing their own copyrights. Thus, they said Napster should be able to try to show that the labels' ventures violate public policies.
