Scour to stop Napster-style movie sharing service

Bankrupt Scour is to scuttle its 'Napster for movies' Scour Exchange service in a desperate bid to end all legal action against it and so smooth its sale to listen.com.

Scour filed for Chapter 11 last month, a move that not only protects a company from its creditors but from pending litigation. In Scour's case, that's the action taken against it by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), who both launched copyright theft suits against the company in July.

Online music company Listen.com offered $5 million for Scour on 1 November, an offer supported by Scour's board.

This week, CenterSpan Communications, a US-based developer of Internet-oriented data sharing software, said it intends to make a rival bid. CenterSpan has until 5 December to make its offer. All offers will be judged on 12 December.

Whoever wins the bidding, Scour's buying isn't going to want to be saddled with legal action, and that's presumably why Scour will shut down Exchange having received permission from the bankruptcy court to end the service.

"We believe our unilateral decision to take down the Exchange will facilitate a resolution of the copyright infringement litigation pending against Scour. In addition, we expect the shutdown of the Exchange to facilitate a sale of Scour's assets, which will maximise creditor recovery," said Scour president Dan Rodrigues. ®

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