Pig Latin fails to save Aimster's bacon

File sharing software provider Aimster has pulled its Pig Latin Napster workaround, and it's nothing to do with the foot and mouth crisis. The software allowed Napster users to get around court imposed copyright restrictions by turning song titles into Pig Latin so they wouldn't be recognised and therefore not blocked.

Aimster canned its Pig Latin program after receiving threats from Napster's legal department. A message on the Aimster web site reads: "Aimster has removed the Pig Encoder Software from public distribution through its web site, effective March 13,2001 9:00 EST. Aimster remains absolutely committed to our mission - To protect the rights and security of those who use Aimster to transmit private messages across the internet".

So threats of legal action must still do the job these days, and Canadian firm, PulseNewMedia, which offers a similar service through napcameback.com might also be shaking in its boots and awaiting a call from Napster's legal crew.

Originally the injunction to stop Napster users sharing copyrighted songs came after a 15-month-long legal battle, which saw record labels emailed Napster a list of 135,000 songs to be blocked to stop trading. So far Napster has blocked 115,000 files, which represent a total 26,000 songs.