norway upholds  napster  ruling a norwegian student who ran a website which linked to downloadable mp3 files has been ordered to pay compensation by the country s supreme court.  frank allan bruvik was ordered to pay 100 000 kroner (£8 000) to the music industry in norway. he was a student when he set up his napster.no site  which allowed users to submit and receive links to mp3 files. bruvik had earlier been cleared on appeal after a lower court had found for the music industry. music industry bosses in norway said the ruling would help build confidence in the internet as a distribution medium.  frank allan bruvik set up the napster.no website as part of a school project in 2001 while studying computer engineering in the norwegian town of lillehammer. the website was not associated with the napster.com site in the usa  which had been operating since 1999 and was already facing legal action.  bruvik s site was online between august and november 2001  and while it did not host any music  at its peak it was providing links to more than 170 free files on other servers. as well as providing links  the site allowed those visiting it to submit links that could later be accessed by other visitors. a legal complaint for copyright violation was filed by groups including norway s performing rights society  tono  and the norwegian branches of sony music and universal music  who saw it as an important test of principle.  a norwegian court ruled in 2003 that bruvik would have to pay 100 000 kroner to the music industry  but the country s court of appeal cleared him  saying that the copyright violation occurred when others posted the music. however  the supreme court stated that the music was clearly published in violation of copyright law it added that the case was decided based on the responsibility for abetting an illegal act  and that bruvik s actions were premeditated. norway s music industry said it was satisfied with the ruling  because showed that music piracy would not be accepted.  meanwhile  in the usa a further 717 lawsuits against people alleged to have traded copyrighted songs were filed this week by the recording industry association of america. the suits  brought on behalf of the major record companies  cite the individuals for illegally distributing music via unauthorized peer-to-peer services such as kazaa and edonkey. as with preceding cases  the fresh action was made against so-called  john doe  defendants  who are identified only by the codes given to their computers  internet connections.