A class action against Bertelsmann AG (a company investing in the original Napster P2P music filesharing application) has been settled with music publishing affiliates of the Harry Fox Agency.The original Napster (not the entirely legal and above-board corporate pandering version that is currently struggling to keep its head above turbulent financial waters) was the catalyst for the start of the P2P online music sharing revolution, and subsequently the poster child of vicious and effective actions against those deemed by the music industry as perpetrating various copyright crimes. The original Napster crumbled to bankruptcy in 2001and sold its name to the now owners, and the new owners are not directly involved.

Bertelsmann will pay $130 million to the publishers in a settlement of the case filed in 2000 against companies Hummer Winblad (which invested $13 to help launch Napster), and Bertelsmann (which invested about $85 million). More than 27,000 publishers joined the class action lawsuit spearheaded by HFA. The action claimed that Bertelsmann and Hummer Winblad were liable for, at the very least, secondary copyright violations by assisting Napster in enabling file sharing over its
P2P networks.

Documents were filed in San Fransisco shortly after the agreement, and they were expected to receive court approval.
But Bertelsmann may have got off lightly: figures bantered around by individuals involved in the suit saw the investor facing charges for damages amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.
Bertelsmann will pay $130 million to the publishers in a settlement of the case filed in 2000 against companies Hummer Winblad (which invested $13 to help launch Napster), and Bertelsmann (which invested about $85 million). More than 27,000 publishers joined the class action lawsuit spearheaded by HFA. The action claimed that Bertelsmann and Hummer Winblad were liable for, at the very least, secondary copyright violations by assisting Napster in enabling file sharing over its
P2P networks.

Documents were filed in San Fransisco shortly after the agreement, and they were expected to receive court approval.
But Bertelsmann may have got off lightly: figures bantered around by individuals involved in the suit saw the investor facing charges for damages amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.

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