Frank Bruvnik, 24, set up Napster.no in 2001. The site is not
connected with Napster.com and did not operate in the same way. The
original Napster.com provided users with direct access to the hard
drives of other users.
Napster.no, on the other hand, invited users to add deep links
to music stored in the popular MP3 format on other sites.
He was soon sued by IFPI Norge (the Norwegian branch of The
International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), the
country's Performing Rights Society, Norwegian copyright group NBC
and four major record labels. The lawsuit, the first of its kind in
Norway, sought 500,000 kroner (£44,528) in damages.
The Norwegian court found that Bruvnik violated the Norwegian
Copyright Act, which makes it unlawful for someone to make
copyrighted material available to the public without the consent of
copyright owners. The court ordered Bruvnik to pay 100,000 kroner
(£8,905) to Sony, EMI and Universal.
According to Associated Press, however, the court decided that
Bruvnik did not break the law by downloading MP3s for his own
use.
The court went further to rule that downloading digital material
for personal use is legal, even when the copy downloaded was made
available to the public without the copyright owners' consent.
Both sides have the right to appeal the ruling within one
month.
