Am Records V Napster

A&M Records et. al. v Napster, Inc 9th Circuit Court of Appeals 239 F.3d 1004 (9th Cir. 2001) Key Search Terms: copyright, infringement, fair use, contributory liability, direct, vicarious Facts A&M Records engaged in the commercial recording, distribution and sale of copyrighted music. Napster allows it users to (1) make MP3 available for copying for other users (2) search for MP3 music stored by other users (3) transfer exact copies of the content of other user’s computers to their own. A&M Records alleged a direct infringement of copyrights and that Napster is a contributory and vicarious copyright infringer. Napster put forward as an affirmative defense that its users are engaged in the “fair use” of the music. The district court preliminarily enjoined Napster from continuing its activities without the express permission of the rights owner. Napster appealed the injunction. Issue The issue is whether A&M Records established a claim of direct infringement and whether Napster met the requirements of the fair use defense. Holding The district court ruled that A&M Records established ownership and that copyright holder’s exclusive rights of reproductions and distribution were infringed. The Ninth Circuit agreed. The factors which the district court considered for Napster’s fair use defense were: (1) the purpose ad character of the use (2) the nature of the copyrighted work (3) the amount of the portion used in relation to the work as a whole; and (4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for the work. The district court concluded that downloading the copyrighted work does not transform it. Additionally, they held that Napster was engaged in commercial use of the work, even though Napster received no direct economic benefit. The district court held that the A&M Records’ material was creative in nature, thus undermining any fair use argument. Additionally, the district concluded that Napster copied the entirety of the copyrighted material, and copying an entire work mitigates against a finding of fair use. The court found that Napster’s use harms the market by reducing CD sales among college age students and raising barriers to entrance into the market. The district court went on to find that Napster had both actual and constructive knowledge that its users exchanged in copyrighted music. The Ninth Circuit stated that A&M would likely succeed on its vicarious liability claim and the contributory copyright infringement claim Summarized By: Brian Raterman