Napster sued over meditation music

A US company that sells meditation music has filed a federal lawsuit against the file-swapping internet site Napster.

It alleges that a warning notice included with its product is omitted in the Napster version.

The light and airy flute music, with sounds of birds and running water in the background, may pose a danger to drivers or heavy machinery operators who could fall asleep from the mellow tracks.

The documents were filed on Monday in the US District Court in Portland, Oregon.

The Beaverton-based Centerpointe Research Institute, which specialises in meditation music and materials, asks Napster for protection against liability associated with the downloaded files.

"Having Napster giving this out for free puts us in a position of people using this who don't know what this will do," said Bill Harris, Centerpointe's founder. "It's not just like listening to music."

Napster declined to comment on the lawsuit.

The case was a new twist on Napster's legal troubles, which have focused mostly on copyright infringement, said Harris' attorney Robert Dorband.

Napster, which is based in Redwood City, California, is currently striking deals with record companies for legal music distribution.

Napster allows home computers to swap music files, making many songs available for free on the internet.