Napster injunction hearing set for Friday

Site may have to cut online services or shut down

By JUSTIN OPPELAAR

U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel will hold a hearing to retool an injunction against Napster this Friday. On Feb. 12, San Francisco's 9th Circuit Court of Appeals remanded the injunction, stayed since last July, to Patel for some slight adjustments, but largely upheld her original ruling. Industry insiders believe Patel's new injunction is likely to demand that the peer-to-peer network block access to files that the major labels identify as infringing on their copyrights. To comply with that mandate, Napster may have to sharply curtail its online offerings, or even shut down entirely.