Liquid Audio has demanded that a music site remove all links to a utility that lets listeners get around its anti-copying technology.
Liquid Audio sent Z Company -- operator of the MP3.com music site and the Filez.com search engine -- a cease and desist letter Monday, asking it to remove all links on its sites that point to a program called a2b2wav.zip or a2b2wav.
Liquid Audio makes "player" software that lets users purchase, download, and listen to music on the Internet. The a2b2wav utility converts music stored in Liquid Audio's proprietary format into the unencrypted .wav format, which can be distributed and played far more easily.
The letter also asks MP3.com to "block all Internet access to an article titled "Can Music Be Secure?", which points out a weakness in certain versions of Liquid Audio's products. MP3.com is one of the most popular sites for downloading music files.
"The only purpose of the a2b2wav program is to promote music piracy," wrote Liquid Audio. The letter also said the software gets around the copy protection features in the player by "making unauthorized modifications to Liquid Audio's copyrighted software."
"We have been asked to pursue those currently violating the company's intellectual-property rights," wrote Dave Kramer, an attorney at Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, in the letter on behalf of Liquid Audio. Kramer would not comment beyond the letter.
Executives at Liquid Audio could not be reached for comment, but a spokeswoman confirmed that the company did send the letter.
Representatives of MP3.com cited First Amendment rights and said no changes to the site have been made.
"We found that request troubling and overreaching on their part," said Brad Biddle, an attorney at the firm Cooley Godward LLP, which is representing MP3.com. "Clearly there are First Amendment issues, and there is no chance we will remove the article." Biddle said no changes would be made in the search engine.
The brewing legal battle between the companies is part of larger hand wringing by the music industry over the online distribution of music. While the record companies recognize they will eventually have to sell music online, they are vigorously fighting the MP3 audio format, which compresses audio files for easier transmission over the Internet. The MP3 format can rival CDs in sound quality. Groups like the Recording Industry Association of America are rejecting it because it lets listeners easily distribute songs without paying royalties.
Biddle said Liquid Audio's claim could be made in light of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which was signed into law in late October. The law makes it illegal to circumvent high-technology anti-piracy protections. It also prohibits the manufacture, import, sale, or distribution of devices that defeat protective measures.
Biddle said that while it was Liquid Audio's right to ask sites hosting the file to remove it, it was not their right to attack links to the file.
"Is that really what Congress intended -- to put this incredible burden on these search engines that link to these devices?" he said. "Clearly that's not what the underlying intent of the law is."
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