Record labels, including Universal, Sony, BMG and Warner
Brothers (a unit of AOL Time Warner), have sued a number of major
ISPs, arguing that they must stop their users accessing the
China-based Listen4ever.com web site which offers unlawful
downloads of music files.
In the lawsuit, which was filed in Manhattan federal court, the
music giants claim that the ISPs, including AT&T Broadband,
Cable and Wireless, Sprint, Advanced Network Services and a unit of
WorldCom use their routing services to allow customers access a
central location, where they can illegally download thousands of
music files.
They also allege that some songs were distributed through the
Listen4ever.com site even before they were commercially released.
The labels are seeking a court order obliging the ISPs to block
internet communications to and from the site.
The suit claims that “Listen4ever has clearly located itself in
China to avoid the ambit of US copyright law.” The web site’s
domain name was registered in January 2002 to an individual in
Tianjin, China. The record labels said that, although any
indication of who owns the web site is “strictly absent”, it is
written entirely in English and mainly focuses on US works.
An AT&T spokeswoman told the New York Times that it is the
first time the company has been asked to block access to a foreign
web site. It blocked access to the site by Saturday night,
according to a report by BBC News.
