Friday, November 6, 2009

A federal judge has temporarily blocked two music-sharing websites from selling songs by The Beatles and other artists for 25 cents apiece.

U.S. District Judge John F. Walter on Thursday blocked the sites BlueBeat.com and Basebeat.com and their owners from selling copyrighted songs by The Beatles and others. Music company EMI Group filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday seeking the injunction.

Neither site was online Friday.

EMI claims the websites have infringed on its copyrights to numerous artists' songs, including The Beach Boys, Coldplay and Lily Allen.

The website's attorney opposed EMI's injunction request, saying the sites are selling an altered version of the songs.

A court hearing is scheduled for Nov. 20.