Napster pledges to end copyright wrongs

Controversial file-sharing service Napster has said it is ready to limit access to non-copyrighted material over its site, in a bid to avoid closure due to its ongoing legal fight with the US recording industry.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has given Napster a list of music it wants removed from the service. However, at the time of writing, no filtering software was in place, with users free to download copyrighted songs. In court on Friday, Napster said it was able to stop users from accessing songs under copyright, and would be able to do this over the weekend. It hinted it may even do this in anticipation of an injunction in the next few days. Napster's admission in court is the first sign the file-sharing service could survive such an injunction. Previously it has maintained that it would have to close down, as it is unable to limit its customers' usage. After an appeal court ruling last month, District Court Judge Marilyn Patel is charged with wording an injunction preventing Napster giving its users access to copyrighted material. The RIAA says Napster is infringing copyright through its service, which allows users to swap MP3 files over the web. However, despite Napster's ongoing troubles its service continues to get ever more popular, with the latest Nielsen/NetRatings research showing it had 10.4 million visitors in January 2001, compared to just 860,000 in January 2000.