Court says no to Napster

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has denied a request by Napster to put a temporary halt to proceedings in a lower court that have blocked song-trading on the company's network. Napster had asked the higher court to intervene in recent orders by federal Judge Marilyn Hall Patel, arguing in part that she had ceded too much power to a court-appointed technical advisor. The appeals court declined and asked both parties to stop filing papers with the court unless it asked for them.

The file-swapping company and the record industry are scheduled to meet again in court Oct. 10 to argue whether the industry's lawsuit against Napster should be decided before going to a full trial. --John Borland, Special to ZDNet News