Just days after Southern California punk band The Offspring began selling unauthorized Napster merchandise through its website, the two parties choose collaboration instead of litigation.
The Offspring on Friday began selling a small selection of "bootlegged" Napster T-shirts, baseball caps, shirts, and hats without consulting the company.
But in a joint announcement on Monday, The Offspring and Napster agreed to begin selling a more comprehensive merchandising line through the band's website.
"The Offspring have been great supporters of Napster," said company founder Shawn Fanning in a written statement. "We are looking forward to working with them."
Profits from the sales will go to a yet-to-be-determined charity.
That ends any possible awkwardness that Napster -- which has been spending plenty of time in court over legal issues surrounding MP3 distribution and copyrights -- faced if it was forced to take one of its supporters to court over trademark infringement.
Napster -– which is being sued by the Recording Industry Association of America, Dr. Dre, and Metallica for allegedly operating a safe haven for digital music piracy -- appeared to be backed into the uncomfortable position of possibly suing The Offspring to enforce its trademark.
"If Napster does not take action to stop the unauthorized use of its trademark, then it risks losing the trademark entirely," entertainment lawyer Whitney Broussard said in an email Friday. "Napster can't be cool because they are required to defend their trademark as a matter of law."
