Napster Investors Bertelsmann, Hummer Winblad Still Face Copyright Suit

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 21, 2004 - 4:11am.

San Francisco -- One-time Napster investors Bertelsmann and venture capital firm Hummer Winblad will be in federal court next week, facing charges from the major record labels and music publishers that the companies' investments in Napster facilitated copyright infringement and lead to $17 billion in lost sales, Reuters reported. Bertelsmann provided $90 million to Napster in 2000, earmarked for the company to develop a copyright-friendly service. The record labels contend that these funds and those from Hummer Winblad allowed Napster to maintain its illegal service in the interim, making the investors liable for third-party copyright infringement. U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel, who also delivered the initial ruling that shut down Napster's peer-to-peer service in 2000, will begin hearing arguments against the Napster investors in San Francisco on April 27.
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