&c1=usa&c2=(none)&c3=The+Guardian&c4=Digital+media,Media,Music+and+the+internet&c5=&c6=David+Teather&c7=2001_03_07){kind=small}
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- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday March 7 2001 08.07 GMT
Napster, the online song swapping service, has been ordered by a US federal judge in San Francisco to remove all copyright material from its website.
The online service has three days to remove the songs once the music companies suing Napster for copyright infringement provide lists of the material they want blocked. Napster is facing legal action from music publishers including Sony, EMI and Universal.
It tried to pre-empt the injunction by offering to install its own software to filter out the songs but there have been reports of problems in blocking the catalogues.
The ruling by Judge Marilyn Hall Patel also requires the music groups to make a "substantial effort" to help weed out copyright material.
The injunction is the latest twist in a battle between the music industry and Napster that has been ongoing since December 1999, when the world's five largest publishers began legal action against the online service. It has been issued ahead of a final judgement from the courts.
BMG, the music business owned by Bertelsmann, has been the only one of the big five to break ranks so far and is working on an attempt to turn Napster into a paid-for membership service. Vivendi Universal has signalled that it would be prepared to license its product to Napster if it turns into a fee-paying business.
