Napster to Block Some Music Soon

March 3 -- Napster isn't slated to shut down today, but the file-swapping service will block trading of more than 1 million pirated music files in an attempt to survive, the company's lawyer said Friday.

The song-swapping Net company, which has been accused by recording companies of facilitating copyright infringement, told a judge today that it has created a way to filter out specific file names that might be clips of pirated songs.

"Sometime this week we will have completed the software implementation so thatthese file names will be blocked," lawyer David Boies told U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Patel. "This screen will start sometime this weekend."

Patel was hearing Napster and music industry lawyers discuss new terms for a legal order to block the trading of pirated music. Although there hasn't yet been a trial on the music studios' allegations against Napster, Patel has already commanded the service to stop trading copyrighted files without permission.Last summer, she granted a request by the Recording Industry Association of America to halt Napster's service until the landmark copyright lawsuit was resolved. A last-minute stay kept the company running business as usual until last month.

In February, judges at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with most of Patel's decision on the block, but asked her to amend the broad order so music studios would have to inform Napster of which songs they wanted removed from the service. (Click here for a complete timeline.)

Recording industry lawyer Russell Frackman told Patel at today's hearing that Napster should start by blocking Billboard 100 singles and Billboard 200 albums.

Incomplete Blocking

Music industry lawyers weren't satisfied with Napster's effort. When new albums come out, they want Napster to block the songs in advance. Napster wants studios to first show a song is being traded to have it blocked. Music industry lawyers say that's a loophole that will allow pirated music into the wild, if only for short periods of time.