TVT CLICKED-OFF, SUES MP3.COM

Independent label TVT Records has leapt into the litigation feeding frenzy against MP3.com, filing suit in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York.

The imprint—which boasts artists as diverse as XTC, Nashville Pussy, Guided By Voices and Tha Eastsidaz—charges that the dot-com first-mover's My.MP3.com service violated its copyrights.

MP3.com lost a judgment late last month in a similar suit brought by the RIAA on behalf of the Big Five, and subsequently removed all major label content from the service. The complaint was based not on the service's delivery of major-label music (users couldn't share the music, had to prove they physically possessed the CD and could only stream, not download, the tracks), but on MP3.com's creation of a pre-existing database without permission.

TVT hopes to force the service to close down and collect damages.

Reaction from MP3.com users to the suit was—perhaps predictably—one of dismay. "As much as I stand behind the fact that MP3.com's practice of STREAMING ONLY of copyrighted material once you PROVE that you own the CD is legitimate, I am about to have to sell my stock," posted on disgusted observer on MP3.com's bulletin board. "I am starting to feel that this industry is going to bring down MP3.com as long as they continue to show the symptoms of cranial rectalis (heads up their butts)."

"It would be a ‘sad day' if MP3.com was forced out of business by losing these lawsuits over one poor decision (copying CD's for MY.MP3.com)," wrote another user.