Madster's Servers Must be Disabled, says Federal Judge

In a case in U. S. Federal District Court heard in Chicago this week, U.S. District Judge Marvin Aspen ordered the file-sharing servers of Madster (once known as Aimster) to be immediately disabled, ruling that Madster continued to violate copyright law even after the Court had issued a preliminary injunction against Madster's file-sharing subscription service. Judge Aspen also issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting Madster from operating its file-sharing service while contempt proceedings against it are pending. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) argued for the contempt order against Madster, alleging that Madster has continued to operate its file-sharing service and that the recording industry will continue to suffer "irreparable harm" by the Madster service without the contempt order being put in place. The contempt hearing is scheduled for December 19th.

Aimster began as a free service and then agreed to change its name to Madster after America Online complained that its Instant Messaging service is commonly known as AIM. Madster's file sharing service charged membership fees of $4.95 per month per subscription, similar to the subscription service that now-defunct Napster offered.