No more Metallica for you

By Вen Li

Napster, the popular online music sharing service, began filtering songs from its service this weekend.

"Napster will follow the District Court’s order [to filter songs]," stated Napster CEO Hank Barry on March 6. "[This is] even before we began making efforts to comply with what we believed to be the dictates of the Ninth Circuit’s ruling."

On Sunday, the Ninth Circuit ruling allowed Napster to continue operating provided they prevent copyrighted songs from being traded. Napster has resisted the move for over a year, citing technical difficulties and their assertion they were not acting illegally.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel modified a preliminary injunction against Napster, forcing record companies to provide lists of copyrighted songs they control and want removed from the service.

"We are gratified the District Court acted so promptly in issuing its injunction requiring Napster to remove infringing works from its system," said Recording Industry Association of America President Hilary Rosen. "We intend to provide the notifications prescribed by the Court expeditiously."