Napster Seeks To Deny RIAA Ruling

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Music file sharing service Napster has filed papers seeking to deny the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and music publishers' request for a ruling that would hold it legally responsible for allowing copyright infringement, Billboard Bulletin reports.

The action, which was filed last Monday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Calif. in San Francisco, questions whether the labels "own the copyrights in question" or can prove that Napster has "adversely impacted" their own proposed online music services. It also claims that artists are not allowed to deal with Napster directly.

Officials were unavailable for comment; a hearing on the RIAA's request is scheduled for Oct. 1. File trading on Napster has been suspended since mid-July; the company's servers were briefly operational in early August as a precursor to a planned relaunch as a pay service in the coming weeks.