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If MP3 seems more like a besieged medieval fortress than a complex and controversial digital music compression technology, it's for good reason. Already the heated epicenter for debate between the music industry, artists and the public, MP3 technology is now positioned front and center in a federal court as well. PlayMedia Systems, Inc. a Beverly Hills, California-based MP3 software developer announced Monday that it has filed a lawsuit in excess of $15 million (US$) against MP3.Com in federal court in San Diego, claiming that the company infringed on its MP3 software copyright.
The suit names MP3.Com as a co-defendant with Nullsoft, Inc., which earlier this month abided by a cease and desist order from a federal judge to stop the distribution of versions of its product which contains the decoder which PlayMedia says it at the heart of the dispute.
The company's press release says it is seeking in excess of $15 million, a figure arrived at just days after MP3.Com announced that it intends to go public in order to raise $115 million.
"From a personal standpoint I loathe taking this action," said PlayMedia CEO Brian Litman in a prepared statement. "However, from a business standpoint, I took this action without hesitation."
MP3 software has been at the center of a firestorm involving the full weight of the multi-billion music industry against the Internet entrepreneurs who saw a way to bring music and the musicians who make it directly to the online public. Many have predicted its demise, but the technology and the amount of musicians offering it continue to grow.
Litman claims that MP3.Com -- and Nullsoft -- marketed and sold decoders with "Winamp" plug-ins, a necessity to hear MP3 files. However, Litman claims, in developing Winamp, Nullsoft borrowed from PlayMedia's technology, an AMP MP3 decoder.
MP3.Com was forewarned of the copyright infringement by Playmedia, Litman claims, before it decided to jointly create and market a special branded version of Winamp with Nullsoft.
"On the whole,, I think we could credibly assert that MP3.Com built a significant portion of its business by virtue of their massive distribution of Winamp, Litman said. MP3.Com owes a heavy debt to PlayMedia for our MP3 technology."
MP3.Com, based in San Diego, was unavailable to respond to the allegations in the lawsuit.
PlayMedia Systems is based in Beverly Hills, with a European and R&D office in Zagreb, Croatia. MP3.Com claims to have more than 200,000 visits to its downloads area daily. Its founder, Michael Robertson, is "feared and loathed by some of the most powerful forces in the $40 billion music industry," the company's home page crows rather proudly.
