Napster Inc

Apple Computer Inc., Google Inc. and Napster Inc. were sued by online movie distributor Intertainer Inc. and accused of infringing a patent on a way to distribute digital entertainment over the Internet. Apple, maker of the iPod music player; Google, the most-used Internet search engine; and Napster, a seller of songs online, are using the patented technology without permission, Intertainer said in a complaint Friday in federal court in Marshall, Texas.

Napster Inc. will become the exclusive music subscription provider for AOL, replacing AOL's Music Now service and bringing Napster closer to 1 million customers. AOL's 350,000 paying music subscribers will be switched to Napster accounts over the next 60 days unless they opt out, the companies said Friday. Los Angeles-based Napster had a total of 566,000 customers as of Dec. 31.

Bertelsmann, Europe's largest media company, doesn't have to disclose its communications with lawyers in its legal fight with record companies over its ties to Los Angeles-based music downloading service Napster Inc., a court said. A federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled that companies including EMI Group, the third-largest record company, didn't prove a fraud that would override lawyer-client confidentiality.

Bertelsmann said Monday that it had settled the last lawsuit filed by a record company over the German media conglomerate's role in funding the original Napster electronic file-swapping service that was once the scourge of the music industry. The deal all but ends years of effort to settle scores over the program that brought file-swapping to the masses, letting more than 40 million users download music without paying for it.

Retail chain Circuit City and Web music service Napster said they would jointly offer a subscription service with millions of songs, the latest effort to compete with Apple Inc.'s iTunes music store. The service will begin April 29 with a subscription cost of $14.95 a month. Individual songs may be downloaded for 99 cents. Electronics retailers and Web music services have sought new ways to team up and compete with iTunes, which has more than 80% of the U.S. market.

Warner Music Group Corp. agreed to use technology from Napster founder Shawn Fanning to sell song downloads on websites including MySpace.com. Warner is the first major recording company to sign such an agreement with Snocap Inc., Fanning's San Francisco-based digital-rights technology firm, the companies said in a statement.

Napster Inc. said its fiscal fourth-quarter loss widened from a year earlier, when the company sold its consumer software unit. The net loss expanded to $8.5 million, or 20 cents a share, from $4.4 million, or 10 cents, the Los Angeles company said. The sale of the unit boosted results last year. Revenue rose to $29.1 million from $26.8 million.

Napster Inc., the pioneer of music downloading, said its fiscal first-quarter loss narrowed from a year earlier as it gained subscribers and decreased sales and marketing costs. Shares surged 14%. The net loss shrank to $4.24 million, or 10 cents a share, in the period that ended June 30, from $9.82 million, or 23 cents, a year earlier, the Los Angeles-based company said. Shares of Napster rose 39 cents to $3.26 in extended trading after the earnings announcement.

Bertelsmann, Europe's largest media company, agreed to pay $130 million to resolve claims by music publishers that its investment in the original Napster music download service contributed to copyright infringement. The accord resolves a legal battle between Bertelsmann and record labels and music publishers that claimed the company's loans helped Napster stay in business.

Napster Inc., the digital music service, said Tuesday that it planned to attract more customers by moving to a Web-based platform that would allow users to play their music from any computer without downloading additional software. The move is intended to open up the service and attract more paying subscribers by making the Napster platform more flexible and compatible with any Internet-enabled device.