The practical application scenario below concerns understanding copyright laws and downloading music. According to Mallor, Barnes, Bowers, and Langvardt (2003), owners of copyrights of songs and recordings expressed concern over such services and resorted to litigation against Napster and other providers on the theory that they materially contributed to copyright infringement by their users. Nonetheless, Varner and Beamer (2011) wrote that the closing down of Napster was not very effective because other sites opened who provided the same service.

Practical Application Scenario:

You open Music Plus, an e-business on the Internet. You have software that enables users to exchange music files. Although users do not pay for your service, they are exposed to advertising for which you charge advertisers. Any kind of music file can be exchanged through Music Plus, but in fact 99 percent of the files exchanged come from copyrighted and commercially recorded music (University of Phoenix, n.d.).

Critical thinking questions:

(1) Can music be property?

(2) Can you legally use an owners music without permission?

(3) Can you legally assist another in using an owners music without permission?

(4) What can a business do to protect its trademark and copyright, domestically and internationally (Lee, n.d.)?

(5) What are your recommendations?