Not that it?ll make any difference long term ? copyright is still going to come in for a hammering in the next few years - but the immediate fortunes of both Napster and MP3.com could take a turn for the worse this month when a judge rules on a two-year-long MP3.com case and Metallica follows through with its lawsuit against Napster. A New York federal judge heard arguments last Friday in the case of the Recording Industry Association of America v. MP3.com, and there will be a ruling April 28. MP3.com’s ?My.MP3.com? site contains a database of copyrighted songs which subscribers can download if they already own the CDs. The RIAA calls this illegal because MP3.com is copying and distributing the copyrighted songs, and it?s suing for damages of ? wait for it - up to $150,000 per album - close to $10 billion. Guess it?ll be goodbye MP3.com if those damages are awarded. Meanwhile the server-clogging college craze Napster - also being sued by the RIAA ? is now being pursued by heavy-metal rockers Metallica, along with three universities who, the suit contends, could easily have stopped the pirating of music on their campuses. The company, founded by a 19-year-old, has existed only a few months and is already facing its second court trial. Metallica’s attorneys said they believe damages could amount to $100,000 for each

pirated song, or more than $10 million. A decision in either of the two cases could affect both companies, as well as similar sites, such as SpinFrenzy and CuteMX. File sharing sites allowing the swapping of all file types - including video - may also suffer from a blow, as the case could set precedent in the States . The RIAA has acknowledged the existence of Gnutella, one site which provides this file-swapping service, and Scour.net’s new video-sharing application is probably not far behind in terms of legal scrutiny.From Monday this week, Napster heads have been frustrated by the unavailability of the company?s servers. Napster has been mysteriously unavailable and disconnecting users - but the problems are likely linked to Napster’s hosting service, AboveNet, which has been experiencing difficulties with its backbone connection to Sprint.

As if Napster didn’t have enough on its plate already…