Burnt LimeWire Shut Down by Court for Copyright Infringement

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Ruling that the defendant commercial P2P music downloading service "intentionally encouraged direct [copyright] infringement," U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Kimba Wood has ordered LimeWire to cease distribution of its file-sharing software.


Although its owner claims the entity is still in business, LimeWire shut its Web site Wednesday, posting the following message:  "This is an official notice that LimeWire is under a court-ordered injunction to stop distributing and supporting its file-sharing software. Downloading or sharing copyrighted content without authorization is illegal."

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sued LimeWire in 2006 on behalf of a dozen plaintiffs, including Sony Music Entertainment, Capitol Records and Arista Records, alleging copyright infringement, unfair competition and inducing others to commit copyright infringement (Arista Records LLC et al. v. Lime Group, LLC, Case No. 1:06-cv-05936 ) [see "TUOL" post 5/13/10].

Judge Wood found that LimeWire affirmatively marketed itself to Napster users, whom she characterized as "known copyright infringers." Although the freeze on distributing its software essentially squeezes LimeWire, networks such as Bit Torrent and Gnutella are still up and running.

A trial is slated for January 2011, to determine the damages sustained by the RIAA.

Court Squeezes LimeWire

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LimeWire, one of the largest commercial P2P music downloading services, was rocked this week by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Kimba Wood, who ruled for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on its claims of copyright infringement, unfair competition, and inducing others to commit copyright infringement.

The 59-page opinion in  Arista Records, LLC et al. v. Lime Group, LLC (Case No. 1:06-cv-05936) found LimeWire, a software file sharing company, and its Chair, Mark Gorton, were both liable for inducing copyright infringement. According to the RIAA, more than 200 million copies of LimeWire's software has been downloaded to date.

Besides the free software version, LimeWire sells an "Extended Pro" version for $34.95 annually. Although it outlasted Napster and other rivals, LimeWire has not kept pace with faster competitors such as BitTorrent.  Judge Wood will meet with the litigants on June 1, where topics such as monetary damages and the possibility of the parties collaborating in the future doubtless will be addressed.