Intellectual property in the music industry. the napster case and the future of the copyright on the internet

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 3
2. History of Music and the emergence of Copyrights 4
3. Music Storage Format 6
3.1 Before mp3 6
3.2 The mp3 6
3.3 MP3 vs. Recording Industry Association of America 7
4. The Napster Case 8
4.1 Introduction 8
4.2 Birth of Napster 8
4.3 Legal challenges 10
4.4 Power of Promotion 11
4.5 Closing of Napster 13
4.6 Current Status 14
5. Napster Clones15
6. Conclusion 16
6.1 The end of Napster is not over with the closing of the platform. 16
6.2 The solution is not going against each clone of Napster 17
7. Bibliography 18

1. Introduction
There is no doubt of the technological revolution that we are living in with, which subsequently affect the Law and in this the case Industrial and Intellectual Property.
The creation of newtechnologies in the area of Authors Right is creating an uncertainty which becomes difficult to clarify in all of the involved sectors and to professionals dedicated to this subject .
The opposing parties can clearly be defined as:
o The big record labels and/or TV and Radio channels.
o The users and service providers that make up the information society
Both the U.S. Government and the EuropeanCommission are well aware of the problem that is been faced right now and both are working in the solution of such problem. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the proposal for a directive on the harmonization of certain aspects of Copyright in the Information Society are the best proof of these attempts, which like all others do not have to be exempt from criticism and praise .
In this essay wewill explore how the music is industry has been revolutionize by one simple software program, Napster.
2. History of Music and the emergence of Copyrights
Music through the history of man has been the essential vehicle to transmit and provoke emotions and feelings. As a result of this, music has always been present in all type of societies and its development has evolved according to the times,as well as how to recognize those who create and interpret it.
During the early days, the artistic recognition was based on the granting of privileges as well of honor and reputation to those engaged in these tasks, this is when “music artist” where born. But unfortunately this situation restrained such artist to profit and live only from their art .
It wasn’t until several centuries later thatthe French Revolution brought the idea of the creation of regulations protecting copyright, which were gradually applied to various types of artistic genres. During this period the Music Industry was born. Since then a development began that would never stop and would allow both the creators and performers of such expressions of human intellect the possibility of making a living from thisactivity, by been able to sell the fruits of their creativity either through contracts with companies involved in the dissemination of musical works, the presentation of artistic performances live .
All these changes were to ensure more and better economic conditions, resulting in a greater interest in music, allowing the incorporation of new elements that directly affected such creations. The authors,performers and producers, accustomed until then to traditional means of music production, were forced to adapt to new media because, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to survive within the industry and stay relevant.
In parallel, the audience and customers grew and the need of a media recording device and sound playback home equipment increased.
This allowed an overcrowd of informal reproductionsystems and music distribution technologies, which caused great concern among the authors, artists, performers and the recording industry who saw in this development a chance to experience heavy losses on equity level .
This meant that the Music Industry had to engage in a series of tough battles against such informal systems and technologies to be able to survive and with the hopes of...