In a temporary restraining Thursday order against Media Rights Technologies' Bluebeat. com Web site, Judge John Walter of US District Court in Los Angeles prohibited the site from either selling or streaming music by artists of the EMI Group.

The decision by the federal judge marks preliminary victory for the London-based music biggie, EMI, which had filed a lawsuit against Bluebeat. com, alleging that the Web site was involved in the unauthorized selling of music by the Beatles and other major acts.

The judge has scheduled a hearing for November 20, whereby he expects the defendants - including Hank Risan, BlueBeat owner, who likely faces millions of dollars in damages under the Copyright Act - to elaborate their reasons for not making the temporary order permanent.

With the Bluebeat. com lawyer saying that a purported 'psychoacoustic simulation' technology will be the basis of his defense in the case, copyright attorney Ben Sheffner - of the Copyrights and Campaigns blog - has drawn attention to fact that BlueBeat's defense rested on copyright regulation which permits musicians to produce cover versions of songs for a licensing fee.

Sheffner elaborated that the mentioned law "does not permit a company to re-record a recording by some new technical means - even a 'psycho-acoustic simulation' device - and then sell the 'new' recordings."