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In 1999 a music file sharing service was created by 18 year old Shawn Fanning. It was created due to Sean wanting to create an easier way of downloading, sharing, and swapping music all in one location.
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Napster becomes very popular very quickly. It gains 700,000+ subscribers who share music files everyday.
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The RIAA sued Napster charging them with tributary copyright infringement. Which means they are accusing Napster of not violating copyright itself, but contributing to a other people's infringement of copyright. But Napster argues that because the files are never in Napster's possession, it is not acting illegally.
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Heavy Metal Rock Group Metallica and Rapper Dr. Dre. sue for copyright infringement and racketeering. Metallica's Attourney produces a list of more than 335,000 Internet user names of people the band finds and says are illegally sharing their songs using Napster.
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Judge rules that Napster is not entitled to ``safe harbor'' under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
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A&M and four other big record label companies sue Napster for copyright infringement.
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Court appeal is in record label's favor and orders Napster to block access to copyrighted files, and they have to monitor the files. Injection is ordered in March. Napster shuts down its service to comply with injunction.
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Digital music software maker, Roxio, buys Napster brand and logo for $5 million.
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Roxio then later sells its software Sonic Solutions. They then focus exclusively on the digital music subscription business.
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Sonic Solutions then sells it to Best Buy who buys it for $121 million.
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Best Buy sells Napster, its customers, and intellectual property to Rhapsody in exchange for a minority stake in Rhapsody.
