Judge won't dismiss Aimster lawsuit

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - A federal judge refused to throw out a copyright infringement suit against the major record companies filed by file-sharing computer service Aimster. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Kahn denied a motion by the Recording Industry Association of America and 17 companies to dismiss Aimster's lawsuit. He also refused to transfer it to Manhattan, where 36 companies filed two subsequent copyright-infringement suits against the computer service. Aimster is seeking a declaratory judgment that it does not violate recording copyrights. Aimster, which lets users exchange files via instant messages on their "buddy lists," says its system simply provides private channels of communication and does not monitor or control what users send each other.