The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a decision by the three-judge panel will be released by 11 a.m.

The decision will be posted at the court’s Internet site.

The court, which in the past year has issued rulings in favor of technology despite concerns of copyrightinfringement, national security and Internet monopolies, heard the recording industry’s case in Octoberagainst Napster, whose site acts as a gateway for millions of online surfers to exchange and recordcopyrighted music.

The recording industry wants Napster shut down, alleging it is contributing to widespread copyrightinfringement, and is pursuing legal action against the company in federal court in San Francisco.

The question before the appeals court is whether to remove Napster from the Internet or allow it to keepoperating while that case continues. The 9th Circuit temporarily halted a federal judge’s July ordershutting down Napster so it could decide Napster’s short-term status for itself.

Napster maintains it is just providing a service for users to share music and not all of the music iscopyright protected.