After driving Napster to its knees in court, the music industry is ready to settle its copyright infringement lawsuit against the now-crippled file-sharing service.

Hilary Rosen, president of industry trade group the Recording Industry Association of America — which led the fight against Napster — said Thursday that since a judge has already issued an injunction ordering the service to block copyrighted music, going to trial is unnecessary.

"I'd like to get the lawsuit settled," Rosen said from her Washington, D.C. office. "I'd like to get the details over with."

Rosen declined to say whether the RIAA has already begun negotiating a settlement with Napster.

A Napster spokesperson said only that the company welcomed Rosen's comments.

Two of Napster's most fervent foes from the artistic community, Metallica and Dr. Dre, have already settled their own lawsuits against the service (see [article id="1445111"]"Metallica, Dre Settle With A Wounded Napster"[/article]).

"This whole issue has always been about creating a legitimate online music business — that is what the record industry's been focusing on," Rosen said. "I don't think anybody thinks that a long trial over Napster would be productive."

The recording industry filed its infringement lawsuit against Napster in December 1999, accusing it of "operating a haven for music piracy on an unprecedented scale" (see [article id="569952"]"RIAA Sues Napster, Claiming 'Music Piracy' "[/article]).

Last July, the judge in the lawsuit issued an injunction ordering Napster to block copyrighted songs, but a higher court immediately stayed the order. In February, however, that court allowed the injunction to go through, and Napster began screening out copyrighted songs cited by rights-holders.

Napster is planning to launch a new, copyright-friendly subscription version of its service. All file transfers on Napster have been down since July 2, and the company has not said when it plans to resume operations (see [article id="1445390"]"Napster's Immediate Future Unclear As CEO Steps Down"[/article]).

Rosen said that the recording industry will continue to do whatever it can to stop the proliferation of Napster alternatives, including the various file-trading programs using the Gnutella network.

The major record companies are planning to launch their own legal Napster alternatives before the end of the year through two new music-subscription services, MusicNet and Pressplay (see [article id="1445382"]"Britney, 'NSYNC, Tool Music To Be Legally Available Online"[/article]).

(For complete coverage of the Napster saga, check out MTV News' [article id="1441231"]"Napster Files."[/article])