Online song-swapping service Napster has failed in its latest effort to overturn the copyright clampdown which has prompted a sharp decline in its user numbers. A federal appeals course threw out Napster’s please for a rehearing in the lawsuit which stopped Napters from trading in copyrighted music. The Napster service allows users to swap music files. However many of those files were copyrighted and music companies, fearing loss of sales, sued Napster in 1999. If the record companies win at the final hearing, it is likely Napster will owe more in damages that it is worth. Already the trading of music files across Napster has dropped from 2.79 billion to around 360 million.