District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel issued an injunction against Napster in July last year but it was suspended just hours before it was due to come into effect when Napster appealed. The Appeals Court has now ruled that the injunction should stand subject to amendment of its terms. The terms of an amended injunction will mean that Napster must prevent the unauthorised swapping of copyrighted songs on its service pending a full hearing on the copyright issues scheduled for later in the year.
Napster has also appealed the Appeal Court’s ruling to amend and enforce the injunction, but a decision could take several weeks. It is likely to ask for a stay of the amended injunction pending a decision on the new appeal.
Napster’s recent $1 billion settlement offer was rejected by the record companies.
A survey on the use of Napster in Europe released today by market research firm Jupiter MMXI found that it is the 13th most popular web site and that half of its users would pay to continue with the service if it changed to a subscription model.
Analysis of Napster's audience shows that it is split into two halves: 50% of users are under the age of 24, and the other 50% are older, wealthier people. The audience is overwhelmingly male, with only 23% of women making up the user profile.