| Wins small victory pending larger court case A federal judge orders Napster to stop some song trades, but the record industry must help the service find those songs--despite individuals' attempts to mask them. 
Settlement chances appear dim
news analysis
The next few critical days and weeks will determine whether there will ever be a new Napster, some analysts say.
March 6, 2001, 5:00 p.m. PT
Fans squeeze through loopholes
For faithful Napster members wondering how they'll get free music from now on, solutions are quickly making the rounds.
March 6, 2001, 1:10 p.m. PT
Judge lets Napster live despite injunction
update
The music-swapping company must begin blocking songs through its service, but a judge denies the record industry's appeals for a broader order.
March 6, 2001, 2:35 p.m. PT
Court lays down terms
document
Judge Marilyn Hall Patel spells out details of the court injunction, describing how Napster is to block songs from its service.
March 6, 2001, 12:00 p.m. PT
Napster screens songs; files slip through
audio | update
Offering its first tangible olive branch to the record industry, Napster turns on a filtering system meant to block thousands of songs.
March 5, 2001, 11:35 a.m. PT
 Vivendi warms to Napster proposal
The media and entertainment giant warms to the idea of joining Napster's new online music venture with Bertelsmann.
March 5, 2001, 3:20 p.m. PT
Rivals unlikely to throw up filters
The company's plans to block some music from its system could put pressure on other services to do the same, but don't expect any rush to filter.
March 2, 2001, 3:50 p.m. PT
Aimster fights labels with own fuel
One music-swapping alternative is using the law in a bid to escape a similar legal fate as Napster.
March 2, 2001, 1:10 p.m. PT
|  | | Holding court | | Jan.
1999 | Shawn Fanning, 19, creates Napster, allowing Web
surfers to
open their hard drives to other people and swap MP3
files.
| | May | Napster Inc. is founded. | Dec.
7 | The record industry charges Napster with violating
federal and
state laws through copyright infringement. | | Jan.
2000 | Universities clamp down on Napster, citing
beleaguered
bandwidth.
A Stanford University senior posts a page describing how Napster's
software
works. | | April | Metallica and Dr. Dre sue Napster and some
universities, charging that they are responsible for copyright
violations. | May
8 | U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel orders
Napster
to stand trial
for copyright infringement.
| May
21 | Napster receives $15 million in venture capital from
Hummer Winblad. | | June 13 | The Recording Industry Association of America seeks
a preliminary
injunction
against Napster, raising the possibility that the service will
stop. | June
16 | David Boies, the Justice Department's special
counsel
in the
Microsoft antitrust case, joins Napster's legal team. | July
26 | Patel orders Napster to halt the trading of
copyrighted
material. | July
28 | The appellate court allows Napster to remain in
operation while
it prepares to hear an expedited appeal. | Aug.
18 | Napster's legal team asks the appellate court to
overturn the
lower court's order. | Oct.
2 | A panel of appellate judges harshly grills lawyers
for
both sides
before adjourning without a decision. | Oct.
31 | Bertelsmann forms an alliance with Napster to
develop a
subscription service.
| | Jan.
2001 | Joel Klein, the former antitrust chief for the
Justice
Department, is named chairman and chief executive of the U.S. division
of
German media giant Bertelsmann.
| Feb.
12 | A three-judge panel asks a lower court to narrow an earlier
injunction, stopping short of immediately halting music swapping on Napster. | Feb.
20 | Napster offers record labels $1 billion for the right to allow
copyrighted music to be traded on its network. | Feb.
25 | Napster asks a full federal appeals court to review the three-judge
decision that could shut it down.
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