In that ruling, a federal appeals court determined that Napster is likely to be held liable for copyright infringement and ordered that a lower court slightly modify an earlier ruling that would require copyrighted materials to be pulled from Napster's service. In a sign of just how seriously the company and new partner Bertelsmann take the threat, Bertelsmann's top executive, Thomas Middelhoff, and Schmidt each appeared at Tuesday's press conference to support Napster's appeal. Middelhoff, who said he had stopped past on his way to the upcoming Grammy celebrations, said he was confident that Napster-like technologies would help boost revenue in a music market that is stagnating with or without the Internet. "I am the only executive, or CEO, in the entire entertainment world who can judge objectively about Napster," he said, citing his company's sprawling holdings in publishing, music, distribution and other entertainment fields.