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Shawn Fanning

By KirtanDaHungry

  • Rapid Popularity Burst

    Rapid Popularity Burst
    May 1999: Napster Inc. file-sharing service founded by Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker and explodes in popularity.

  • Released Napster

    Released Napster
    On June 1, 1999, Fanning released a preliminary beta program of Napster and soon, hundreds of college students at Northeastern were up and trading music furiously.

  • Sueing

    Sueing
    April 13, 2000: Heavy metal rock group Metallica sues Napster for copyright infringement and racketeering. Rapper Dr. Dre files suit two weeks later.

  • Request of Shut Down

    Request of Shut Down
    July 26, 2000: Judge Marilyn Hall Patel grants the RIAA's request for a preliminary injunction and orders Napster shut down.

  • Top 100 innovators

    Top 100 innovators
    In 2002, Fanning was named to the MIT Technology Review TR100 as one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35.

  • Spanish Pornography

    Spanish Pornography
    Sept. 16, 2002: Spanish pornography company offers $2.4 million in stock for some of Napster's assets which boosts Napster's business to strive when it could've shut down.