Reference no: EM131111657

In 1999-2000, online file sharing service Napster was sued for copyright infringement by various parties (including recording artists, record labels and a recording industry trade association). Napster eventually was forced to shut down by court order and paid over $40 million for copyright infringement. In 2006, Research in Motion (RIM) settled a patent infringement lawsuit filed by patent-holding firm NTP, Inc. in which NTP alleged that RIM's Blackberry product utilized wireless email technology described in patents to which NTP owned the rights. The amount of the settlement was $612 million. Compare these two cases of intellectual property infringement, including comments on the parties being sued, the parties filing suit, the financial damages in each case (distinguish between actual and potential damages if needed), and the ability of the alleged infringing party to make financial restitution. What contractual, corporate, bankruptcy or other legal issues are implicated in the above?