Musicians sue MP3 site for 'piracy'

NEWS Copyright campaigners are taking a music download site based in Norway to court over alleged 'Internet piracy'. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) claims the Fast Web site - which compiles copies of music files which users can then download using MP3 technology - represents a serious threat to the development of ecommerce. Adrian Strain, spokesman for IFPI, told Silicon.com that the lawsuit is the first, but won't be the last of its kind. "Unless there is a legitimate legal commerce framework in place there are going to be many more legal problems of this kind," he warned. Courtroom clashes have been brewing between intellectual property rights campaigners and Internet-based music technology developers and Web sites for sometime now. But a legal framework to establish how music can be distributed over the Net without breaking copyright has yet to be constructed. Currently the European Parliament is working on a copyright bill - now famous for a proposal which would outlaw Web caching - which will form part of that framework. Time is running out though for the legislators to avert a barrage of similar lawsuits. Strain said the problem is simple, "technology has outrun the law". He was also at pains to deny recent reports that IFPR is now considering a lawsuit against Lycos - Fast's portal partner. Both Lycos and Fast were unavailable for comment.