Multimedia 'Napster' Awaits Fate Music & MP37/31/2000; 11:40:37 AM 'Despite the fact that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted Napster a stay on Friday, Scour.net seemed ripe for a similar brow beating at the hands of the recording industry after Judge Marilyn Patel all but dismantled the arguments both companies are expected to use.'...'Despite deals with Miramax and Hollywood Records that allowed Scour to legally distribute certain copyrighted materials, on July 20 the motion picture industry and the recording industry filed an infringement suit against the company.'...'"I am not convinced that Napster has been trounced as some others may be," copyright lawyer Whitney Broussard of Selverne, Mandelbaum & Mintz, wrote in an email. "Judge Patel has, it seems, rewritten the Betamax decision such that a developer of a copying technology now has a duty to ensure that the technology is not used to make copies of copyrighted materials, regardless of whether or not the copy may be protected by principles of fair use. I am not so sure that this ruling will be upheld in the Court of Appeals, or the Supreme Court, if it goes that far."'The Betamax decision refers to the decision ruling that VCRs were legal because they had substantial non-infringing uses, despite the fact they could easily be used. This looks like a good discussion on the reasoning, the ramifications, and the irony of that decision, if you've not read an in-depth analysis before.