Music pirates plundered
Tune biz sues swapper Audiogalaxy
In a complaint filed jointly in New York federal court, the Recording Industry Assn. of America and the National Music Publishers Assn. claimed Audiogalaxy's peer-to-peer system is "knowingly, willingly and intentionally designed to facilitate and encourage millions of anonymous users to copy and distribute infringing copies of copyrighted works."
Complaint is similar to the action brought against file-swapping progenitor Napster two years ago, which brought that service to its knees with an injunction last summer -- and a more recent suit vs. Napster scions Kazaa, Grokster and Morpheus.
But the RIAA and NMPA said in Friday's complaint that the Audiogalaxy service is "even more egregious than that of Napster," noting it offers more user-friendly features for reproducing and distributing copyrighted files. The complainants added that Audiogalaxy has flouted labels' and publishers' requests to filter copyrighted work out of its network.
The industry is seeking an injunction against the file-swapping service, as well as statutory damages of $150,000 per work infringed and any punitive damages that apply.
Audiogalaxy reps did not return calls seeking comment on the suit.
Three other firms targeted
The music and film industries have been on a litigious tear in recent months. In addition to the Napster suit, the RIAA, along with the Motion Picture Assn. of America, late in November filed complaints against Kazaa, Grokster and Morpheus.
The three services, which at the time all ran on a Netherlands-based network called Fasttrack, argued their services are far more decentralized than that of Napster.
So far, however, not even the Fasttrack-based companies have been able to dodge the industry's wrath.
Kazaa BV, which runs the Fasttrack network, recently said in court documents that lawsuit-related expenses are likely to put it out of business. Grokster and Morpheus have complained of similar strains on their finances because of the suit.
