Given the guidelines on music sharing as outlined by U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel late Monday, analysts at Gartner agree with the doomsayers: it's likely the end of the road for Napster.

The San Jose, Calif.-based research firm says Monday's ruling, which ordered Napster to eliminate all copyrighted materials from its system, effectively shuts the company down and leaves no viable alternative in sight.

Gartner analysts said they do not see any legitimate business model coming from Napster given the guidelines on what music files can and cannot be shared via the company's software.

"[The] ruling is also a second chance for the big five recording labels to figure out an effective and reasonable digital music distribution model," added P.J. McNealy, senior analyst at Gartner's e-Business group. "This buys the big five labels time to get their catalogs online and provides a legal alternative to the current illegal file sharing system."

McNealy says the case also sets a strong precedent for how the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is interpreted in cases of copyright infringement via the Internet. That's a clear blow to Napster, which early on touted the Act as its veritable legal trump card. Originally passed in 1998, the Act, among other things, limits Internet service providers from copyright infringement liability for simply transmitting information over the Internet. Napster has said its service falls under that same liability protection because its proprietary software simply enables users to search for music on other Napster members' computers, similar to a service provider enabling someone to search the entire Web. What the user does with that "content," went the claim, isn't Napster's problem.

Until now, of course.

"This case could set the tone for other copyright owners," said Michael McGuire, research director for Gartner's e-Business group. "This is [also] good news for Hollywood as movies have already been a target for Internet piracy."

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