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With a court battle slated for a climactic decision this Wednesday in San Francisco, controversial file-sharing site Napster has been blasted as a "hijacker" of intellectual property by Time Warner President richard parsons',390,400);">richard parsons',390,400);">Richard Parsons, who will be overseeing the Warner Music Group after it merges with both AOL and EMIassuming those consummations will take place.

At the Jupiter Communications-sponsored Plug-In convention in New York, Parsons accused the company of infringing copyrights, intellectual property theft and making available illegal downloads of Napoleon XIV's "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Ha."

"Napster claims it is merely a kind of matchmaker," he said. "That's a little like a hijacker claiming it's only an intermediary moving one person's property to another."

Napster Chief Executive Hank Barry (see our exclusive dialogue on hitsdailydouble.com), on a panel following Parsons' speech, said he viewed his company's service as one that could help the music market grow.

The suit was filed in December by Time Warner's Warner Bros. music group, Sony Music Entertainment, Seagram Co.'s Universal Music Group, BMG and EMI Group Plc.

Parsons did acknowledge the record industry has been slow to embrace the new distribution technology of the Internet.

"Major labels have been asleep at the wheel," he said. "We've been hesitant to change. And consumers have made it absolutely clear they want to get music digitally. Now, can you show me how this e-mail thing works?"