Zomba/Jive Sues MP3.com

September 12 -- Zomba Recording Corp., owners of the Jive label — home to Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys, and 'N Sync — has sued MP3.com for willful copyright infringement, the company revealed in a statement Monday.

Zomba is the latest record company to sue the music-swapping site over the My.MP3.com service, which allows users to store music in a central database and then access it via any computer connected to the Internet. In the statement, Zomba asserts that "MP3.com has adopted a blatant strategy of attempting to unlawfully build a business by misappropriating us and our artists and writers' goodwill, recordings, and songs."

On Sept. 6, a New York federal judge ordered MP3.com to pay the Seagram Co.'s Universal Music Group some $118 million in damages, after ruling that the online music-sharing service willfully infringed on copyrights belonging to the entertainment giant when it unlawfully copied CDs for My.MP3.com. The other four major labels — Warner Bros., Sony, EMI, and BMG — all settled with the MP3.com previously. Zomba's lawsuit is unrelated.

Aside from Britney, the Backstreets, and 'N Sync, Jive artists include R. Kelly, Steps, and Groove Armada. Zomba also owns several other labels, including the gospel imprint Verity and Silvertone, home to blues great Buddy Guy. Zomba's Christian music subsidiary, the Provident Music Group, is home to Jars of Clay and Michael Smith, among others.