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SAN FRANCISCO--On what some had predicted would be judgment day for music-sharing service Napster, the company has revealed a plan to block access to certain tunes and protect their copyrights.

Napster expects to implement software as soon as this weekend that blocks people from accessing more than one million specified digital music files from its service. The plan was announced in a District Court hearing Friday by Napster attorney David Boies.

"We've had a group of people at Napster working night and day for two weeks trying to find a process to block these names," Boies told the court. "Sometime this weekend we will have completed the software implementation."

Boies described the software as a "screen between uploading and viewing what has been uploaded."

When Napster users search through each other's music files, they are actually looking at a file index stored on Napster's central servers. While copyrighted songs may still be stored on users' hard drives, the screen proposed by Napster will prevent those songs from showing up on its indexes, meaning other users won't be able to download them.

The move will drastically diminish Napster's selection of songs, unless Napster cuts deals to use material from the music labels that have sued it for copyright violation. Independent musicians or labels could still choose to upload and share material. Copyrighted tunes from major labels would not show up on Napster's index unless Napster gets permission from the copyright holder. The music-swapping site already has an arrangement with Bertlesmann, and is negotiating with other labels.

Judge Hears Proposals

U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel called Friday's hearing to gather information so that she can rewrite a ruling. That ruling, issued last July, effectively would shut down Napster for assisting in the widespread violation of music copyrights. The 9th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals, while agreeing that Napster fostered copyright violations, postponed that judgment, calling it too broad, and asked Patel to rewrite her decision.

Judge Patel did not issue a new injunction Friday morning, but Napster's announcement appears designed to help it prepare for any decision she may issue in the future. Patel gave no indication Friday when she will issue her revised ruling.

Napster has already offered a settlement to the music industry. The company is proposing to switch to a subscription service and pay music labels for its copyright violations.

Disagreements between the lawyers for the two parties center on the question of which side should have to take the first step in blocking copyrighted material from the service. Napster was originally sued by major music labels, represented by the Recording Industry Association of America.

"If (the RIAA) gives us the name of the file they want blocked, we'll police our system," Napster's Boies says.

Is RIAA Still Unsatisfied?

The approach favored by the RIAA is quite different, however. Boies suggested the RIAA should have to prove that each copyrighted file exists on the system. But Russ Frackman, RIAA attorney, argued against such a plan.

"That's not an injunction, that's trying to solve the problem after the horse has already left the barn," Frackman said.

Boies appeared to be trying to satisfy the RIAA with the screening system. "This screen, when it goes up this weekend, will be updated all the time," he said.

Other arguments touched on how to deal with newly released music. The RIAA wants Napster to add the names of newly recorded music to its file index before songs are actually released. Napster wanted to handle things differently.

"Once they show us that a user is offering a (copyrighted) file, we're going to block whatever name they give us," Boies said of the recording industry.

Napster Chief Executive Officer Hank Barry voiced his displeasure following the proceedings. The RIAA is seeking too powerful an injunction, he said. "The only way we can follow it is to completely shut down," Barry said.

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