Beatles - Websites Shut Over Beatles Ruling

Executives at music industry giant EMI have triumphed in their legal battle over the BEATLES songs - a U.S. judge has shut down two websites accused of selling the tracks illegally.

Record label bosses filed a copyright violation lawsuit at a Los Angeles court earlier this month (Nov09) to prevent the sale of "unauthorised content" after Bluebeat.com and Basebeat.com allegedly began offering Beatles' tracks for download at discounted prices.

The owner of the sites, which also offered a streaming service, claimed to have circumnavigated piracy laws by using an experimental new recording technique called "psycho-acoustic simulation" to reproduce the tracks.

EMI won a temporary injunction banning the sites from streaming or selling tracks by the band, as well as other artists, and now U.S. District Judge John F Walter has upheld that ruling.

A hearing was set for Friday (20Nov09), but Judge Walter made a decision ahead of the court date based on the arguments from both sides' attorneys.