ABSTRACT
Lars Ulrich’s statement, included in its entirety, not only expresses Metallica’s own individual concerns over the control of intellectual property, but also implies the tragic effects that music theft will have upon the recording industry’s many anonymous everyday employees. “Napster, the logo and all other trademarks, service marks and trade names of Napster appearing on this web site are owned by Napster.” When Metallica makes an album we spend many months and many hundreds of thousands of our own dollars writing and recording. Napster itself wants—and surely deserves—copyright and trademark protection. Metallica and other creators of music and intellectual property want, deserve and have a right to that same protection. Some Metallica fans, for example, were encouraged to buy CDs or attend concerts because they had first heard a free audio file. While the industry would eventually win its case against Napster, it proved to be a hollow victory.
