NAPSTER PREPS FOR COURT BATTLE

Napster, the target of a music industry lawsuit that threatens to shut down the service, will have its day in court Monday.

"Napster and its legal team are hard at work preparing their counter arguments to the Recording Industry Association of America brief filed a couple of weeks ago," a representative for Napster, which will file its brief Monday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, told Reuters. Another hearing is set for July 26.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the National Music Publishers Association filed a motion two weeks ago for a preliminary injunction against Napster, seeking to remove all the songs owned by the trade group's members from Napster's song directories (hitsdailydouble.com, 6/13).