Madster (initially called Aimster) It was released in Napster's wake in August 2000 and shut down in December 2002 as a result of a lawsuit by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Origin
According to John Deep, a professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
Features
thumb|right|alt=A screenshot from the Madster software showing the Control Panel and File Search windows.|The Control Panel and File Search windows in Madster showing search results after a search for "[[Bob Dylan".]]The Madster service was initially called Aimster, but it was later renamed to Madster due to concerns that the Aimster name infringed AOL's AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) trademark. The Madster software allowed users to share files via instant messaging services.
Around March 2001, support for encrypted network communications was included in a new release of the Madster software (at the time, the Aimster name was still in use.) Among other things, the Madster service hoped that the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act would have the effect of prohibiting others from monitoring the encrypted Madster network communications.
Recording industry collaboration
In 2000, for a short time, Capitol Records authorized Madster (which was called Aimster at the time) to provide some Radiohead video files on the service's Web site and to release a skin for the Madster software that had a Radiohead theme. This collaboration was done for the purpose of promoting a new Radiohead album. Earlier on in September, the court stated that Aimster had knowledge of copyright infringements, including a Web-based "Aimster Guardian" tutorial that showed copyrighted materials and the tracking of popular songs on the service via "Club Aimster"; the latter also indicated contribution to infringing activity and the monthly fees for the service indicated a financial interest for the Aimster operators in conjunction with infringing usage. The requirement for users to sign up and log in to use the service meant that Aimster was in a position to control the activities of its users. In particular, it was found that Madster's support of encrypted file sharing was "willful blindness" and was not a valid defense with regard to copyright infringement. In 2005, Deep sued Boies for malpractice and misappropriation, but lost the case in 2008.