Jan. 4 (Bloomberg) -- The Recording Industry Association of America can't force Charter Communications Inc. to turn over the names and addresses of Internet subscribers suspected of illegally sharing copyrighted music, a U.S. appeals court ruled.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis quashed subpoenas issued in 2003 by a federal judge. The appeals court said the Digital Millennium Copyright Act doesn't allow the RIAA to subpoena Charter for user information because the files at issue aren't stored in the company's computers.

``Because the parties do not dispute that Charter's function was limited to acting as a conduit for the allegedly copyright protected material, we agree'' that the 1998 act doesn't authorize the subpoenas, U.S. Circuit Judge Kermit Bye wrote in the majority's opinion released today.

The recording industry has tried to thwart piracy by suing thousands of people it's accused of illegally posting songs over the Internet. More than 2.6 billion music files are illegally downloaded over the Internet every month in violation of U.S. copyright laws, according to the ruling.

``For the past year, we have successfully utilized the 'John Doe' litigation process to sue thousands of illegal file sharers,'' the RIAA said in an e-mailed statement. ``Our enforcement efforts won't miss a beat.''

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act protects Internet service providers from being forced to turn over subscribers' information if allegedly pirated files aren't saved on any of the company's computers, or if it can't disable users' access to the files, according to the opinion.

`No Statutory Basis'

``With its ruling, the Court of Appeals has concurred with our belief that no statutory basis exists for the issuance of subpoenas requiring the disclosure of customer information to the RIAA by Charter,'' David Andersen, the company's senior vice president for communications, said in a statement.

``Charter takes its responsibility to protect the private information of our customers very seriously,'' Andersen said. ``Our customers place their trust in Charter, so we took all appropriate legal measures in this matter to fulfill this responsibility. This said, our actions in this case should assure them that this trust is justified.''

U.S. Circuit Judge Diana Murphy issued a dissenting opinion in which she said the other two judges defined the copyright act too narrowly.

``To interpret the statute in the way Charter urges, and the court adopts, is to block copyright holders from obtaining effective protection against infringement through conduit service providers,'' Murphy wrote.

Charter shares rose 7 cents to $2.30 as of 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. The shares declined 44 percent in 2004.

The case is In re: Charter Communications Inc., 03-3802, United States Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kevin Orland in Chicago at korland@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 4, 2005 17:24 EST