The file-trading website Napster claims that it has shut down the 317,377 accounts of users that Metallica [ tickets ] accuses of infringing upon the band's copyrights. Meanwhile, the consulting firm that compiled the users' names for Metallica reportedly is preparing another list of Napster users who allegedly infringed on the copyrights of Dr. Dre [ tickets ].

Metallica sent a computerized list containing information about the users on May 4, a day after a publicity stunt in which band member Lars Ulrich and attorney Howard King (also Dr. Dre's attorney) delivered 13 boxes containing a 60,000-page printout of the information to Napster’s San Mateo, Calif., headquarters.

In an announcement posted on the Napster website on Wednesday (5/10), the company said that the users had been removed in compliance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

“We intend to fully comply with the DMCA and our policies,” the announcement said. “We will take down all users Metallica [ tickets ] has alleged, under penalty of perjury, to be infringing.”

The Napster announcement said that those who have been shut out from the service could be reinstated “in the event that there has been a genuine mistake or misidentification of the materials made available by that user.”

The banned users are directed to an infringement notification page on the Napster site that explains Metallica’s notice to Napster. Users who feel they have been wrongly banned can fill out a sworn “counter notification,” and the users will be reinstated within 10 working days unless Metallica pursues legal action against the user, according to the announcement.

According to several Internet discussion groups, banned users could previously gain access to Napster by simply removing the Napster software and re-installing it with a new user name. Napster has since added further protection that supposedly makes getting reinstated from the same computer more difficult.

Metallica hired the online consulting firm NetPD to track and monitor the Napster site for the “illegal transfer” of Metallica files between April 28 and April 30, according to a press release issued by the band’s management company.

Metallica filed a $10 million copyright infringement lawsuit against Napster in April. Rapper-producer Dr. Dre [ tickets ] filed a similar claim a short time later. The Recording Industry Association of America has also filed suit against Napster.

In a related development, in a report published today by ZDNet News, attorney King said that another NetPD report outlining information about users who allegedly infringed upon Dr. Dre's copyrights will soon be delivered to Napster.