In Re Napster, Inc. Copyright Litigation

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

The recording industry plaintiffs move for summary judgment against defendant Napster, Inc. (“Napster”) for willful contributory and vicarious copyright infringement. In response, Napster requests that pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(f) the court stay any decision on the merits to allow for additional discovery. Napster’s 56(f) motion asks the court to determine whether additional discovery is necessary to decide if some of largest players in the music recording industry actually own the rights to the musical works for which they allege copyright infringement by Napster. The court is also asked to permit discovery to determine whether plaintiffs have misused their copyrights by attempting to control the market for the digital distribution of music. Having considered the arguments presented, and for the reasons set forth below, the court rules as follows.

BACKGROUND

This action is one of several copyright infringement actions against Napster, an Internet service that facilitates the downloading of MP3 music files. See In re Napster, MDL 00-1369 MHP. Because this court and the Ninth Circuit have discussed the Napster service at length in prior…