Sony Music Entertainment Inc and 12 other record labels are asking a judge to order four Internet service providers to block access to a China-based Web site that offers free downloads of popular music.
The labels want a federal judge to bar units of AT&T Corp, Cable & Wireless Plc, Sprint Corp and WorldCom Inc. from providing access to the Listen4ever Web site. The plaintiffs -- including Vivendi Universal SA's UMG Recordings Inc and Bertelsmann AG's RCA Records -- say the site is "even more egregious" than the music-sharing site once run by Napster Inc.
The copyright suit marks the first time that the labels have sought to stop Internet providers from supplying access to such a Web site. They've previously sued the Web sites themselves, last year winning an order barring Napster from distributing copyrighted songs for free over the Internet.
"By disabling the connections that allow users' computers in the United States to communicate with Listen4ever's services in China, defendants can significantly diminish the continued illegal copying and distribution of plaintiffs' sound recordings," the record companies say in a complaint filed today in New York.
Listen4ever isn't named as a defendant in the lawsuit. AT&T Broadband spokeswoman Sarah Eder said the company was reviewing the suit and declined to comment. A Sprint spokesman didn't have an immediate comment. Sudie Noland, a spokeswoman for WorldCom's UUNet Technologies, also declined to comment.
The labels say the Listen4ever site can be easily accessed by software that comes pre-packaged on most computers. At any given time, thousands of songs are available on the site, including works by Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Coldplay, and Christina Aguilera, they say.
Mary Blige's most recent album, "Dance for Me," was available on the site before it was released to stores on Aug. 13, the labels say.
The record companies say the only information they have about Listen4ever is that the domain name appears to have been registered in Tianjin, China, and that the company's computer servers are located there.
"Listen4ever's evasive behavior clearly indicates its desire to continue operating beyond the practical reach of US law," the labels say.
Earlier this month, the Recording Industry Association of America, which represents the recording industry, asked the Internet providers to block access to Listen4ver servers in China, the suit says.
The Internet service providers "in essence responded that they were reluctant to block communication to and from the Listen4ever site traveling over their networks simply at the request of RIAA, but would of course comply with a court order," the record companies say.
The labels claim a 1998 law, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, anticipates such a situation and gives them the right to an injunction blocking access. Without it, they say, thousands of songs will flow freely over the Internet, denying the labels and their artists profits from their music.
Sony Music Entertainment is a unit of Tokyo-based Sony Corp.
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