According to producer Mathew Katz, former producer for 60’s rock band Jefferson Airplane, Bertlesmann is helping Napster infringe on copyrighted recordings and thus has sued their e-commerce group.

Along with suing Bertlesmann’s e-commerce unit he is also suing Napster’s 38 million users claiming, among other things, that record sales of acts that his label produces are remaining steadily low thanks to the wonderful free world of Napster. How does this Katz guy go ahead and do something like this considering that the details of the partnership formed between Bertlesmann and Napster remain disclosed. Katz, who is making accusations based on media reports (yes, ironic isn’t it?), believes that the third largest record label has made an investment of upwards of $50 million in Napster with an apparent 40% share in the company. Where did Katz hear this as I have not heard anything of the sort...maybe I need to crawl out of my hole?

"Until something is done, they are party to an illegal activity," Katz said of Bertlesmann. "For years, the big labels have virtually opened the door to this thing and did nothing about it. They knew the technology was in place to do this sort of thing and knew there was a way to do something to prevent this."

Both Napster and Bertlesmann have yet to comment on this action, though I am sure that in the coming days they will have something to say regarding this matter. Why do I get the feeling that this Katz character is merely trying to ride the coattails of the Napster phenomenon, as many others are doing, so that attention can be placed on his label? Too bad it, more than likely, will merely remind people to download more music from bands produced by Katz's label.