The End Of Limewire?

Quadratic · 2010-05-14T23:41:30+00:00

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20004982-261.html A federal court judge has likely dealt a death blow to LimeWire, one of the most popular and oldest file-sharing systems, according to legal experts. Mark Gorton, LimeWire's founder, could see a federal court decision force his company to shut down operations possibly very soon. On Wednesday, CNET broke the news that U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood granted summary judgment in favor of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which filed a copyright lawsuit against LimeWire in 2006. In her decision, Wood ruled Lime Group, parent of LimeWire software maker Lime Wire, and founder Mark Gorton committed copyright infringement, induced copyright infringement, and engaged in unfair competition. "It is obviously a fairly fatal decision for them," said Michael Page, the San Francisco lawyer who represented file sharing service Grokster in the landmark case, MGM Studios, vs. Grokster and also represented Lime Wire's former CTO in the company's most recent copyright case. "If they don't shut down, the other side will likely make a request for an injunction and there's nothing left but to go on to calculating damages." With an injunction, the RIAA can force LimeWire to cease file-sharing operations. Music industry sources who spoke to CNET on condition of anonymity said the RIAA, the trade group representing the four largest music labels, is considering whether to seek an injunction prior to a status conference Wood scheduled for June 1. If that happens, LimeWire may have little room to maneuver and the company could be forced to shutter operations within weeks. Representatives for the Lime Group did not respond to interview requests. An RIAA spokesman declined to comment. While Wood's decision won't come close to killing online piracy--there's still BitTorrent and plenty of other ways to share files--she likely has scuttled a peer-to-peer service used by nearly 60 percent of the people who download songs. She also may have ushered out the era of large, well-funded file-sharing services, at least the kind that help distribute mostly copyright-infringing content. By making Gorton personally liable for damages, Wood served notice that operating these kinds of businesses is now a very risky financial endeavor. If the RIAA gets its way, Gorton, Lime Wire, and Lime Group will collectively be responsible for paying damages of $450 million. The other side of the LimeWire ruling is that it could thwart the development of technologies that one day might provide legitimate benefits to media companies, said Jack Lerner, a USC law professor. "The problem is that some of these services may be the most efficient distribution technologies ever created," said Lerner, a former attorney with the tech-focused law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. "It may take years and years before these technologies can fully be developed because they're being shut down. When these technologies are in their infancy you see a lot more infringement, but as they mature they may be able to be put to good use." That kind of reasoning is unlikely to find many sympathetic ears in the recording industry. For a decade now, file-sharing companies have promised to help label execs make money and for years music execs have watched as piracy has gone up and music sales have gone down. Even after a long list of favorable court rulings forced a litany of peer-to-peer companies to either change business models or shut down, it always seemed like plenty of new services were willing to buck the odds: Napster, Scour, Audiogalaxy, Aimster, Kazaa, Morpheus, and, of course, Grokster. The MGM-Grokster decision was supposed to have won the argument for the entertainment sector. In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court set aside two lower court rulings that favored Grokster and unanimously found the file-sharing service could be sued for inducing copyright infringement. Supreme Court Justice David Souter wrote in the court's opinion: "We hold that one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties." Many copyright owners hoped that case would kill off illegal file sharing. It didn't. Plenty of companies continued to challenge big music labels and film studios. Unlike most of the other services that tangled with the entertainment industry, Lime Wire had the financial resources to fight an extended legal battle. Sure, Lime Wire became the largest music-sharing service, but the company stands out mostly for its ability to stick around. 'Shut him down' Lime Wire claims to have amassed more than 50 million unique monthly users since releasing the software in May 2000. LimeWire is free peer-to-peer software, but the company also sells a premium version called LimeWire PRO for fees of up to $35 a year. In her decision, Wood noted that Lime Wire grew annual revenue from $6 million in 2004 to $20 million two years later. In August that year, the music industry filed its copyright suit against Lime Wire. The case dragged on, but in her finding Wood made it clear there was plenty of evidence to support her decision. She found that Lime Wire was aware of substantial infringement; made efforts to attract infringing users; enabled and assisted users to commit infringement; and depended on copyright infringement for the success of its business. According to USC's Lerner, Wood's decision is just a continuation of a long-running trend. "You had to see this coming," Lerner said. "Courts are increasingly hostile to P2P services when a massive percentage of files on their networks are infringing." He noted that the absence of significant filtering technologies and legitimate notice-and-takedown policies (which enable a copyright owner to alert service operators of the existence of pirated content on their sites) can hurt file-sharing services in these kinds of copyright cases. Lerner said that YouTube, which is being sued by Viacom for copyright infringement, is an example of a "good actor," a company that has set up filtering systems and takedown notices. It must be pointed out that Viacom thinks differently. When it comes to Lime Wire's case, most of the experts say that an appeal won't likely prevent the RIAA from being granted an injunction. One way out of the mess is for Lime Wire to cut a deal with the record companies. One scenario would be for is for Lime Wire to turn itself into a legal music retail store, said Chris Castle, an entertainment lawyer who represents artists and indie labels with a long history in technology. But based on Gorton's record, Castle doubted the Gorton has any interest in creating a legitimate business. For that reason, Castle applauded Wood's decision and said he hopes the RIAA goes for an injunction as soon as possible. "I believe in injunctions in these cases," Castle said. "When you are dealing with someone with a lot of money, you want to stop the behavior. You don't want to put these people in a position where all they have to do is write a check or keep appealing. By letting (Gorton) continue you are allowing him to cause more harm. Get the injunction. Shut him down." FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

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illumi

15 years ago

Limewire sucks. I used ti before I found out about torrents(AKA, before I grew a set of balls)

Shitty music quality, and pretty much a waste of space and brain cells for knowing what it is.

90% of the mp3's I've downloaded individually pops up when I type in " Artist Song Title MP3" in google.

Japanese songs are a little harder to find, in which case I use winmx, torrents, nipponsei, etc.

Yushi

15 years ago

Waar wrote...

came in here to laugh at you for using limewire.

me too

doswillrule

15 years ago

Aud1o Blood wrote...

LuPonce wrote...

FUCK OUTTA HERE!!

god forbid limewire shuts cause i am not paying for no mother fucking music at the store or in zune market place.i bet its all the artist right? these asshole dont sing to bring joy to people's hearts(like lady gaga did with mine) they are all in it for the money . file sharing is not hurting anybody. all the singers have enough money why do they want more???

SO fuck you all SUCK DICK, LICK BALLS, AND KISS MY ASS

People who illegally download buy three times as much music as those who don't.
They don't have to worry about regretting a purchase, because they usually already have the content in data form.

Actually, most hardcore file sharers buy music solely to support artists who make good content.

It's a "try before you buy" thing. Distribution is the model for the new century, getting it out there (leaks or otherwise) is actually good for business.

This. The problem is that they can't judge the profits they are receiving in relation to file sharing; they only see the massive file sharing figures. The few services that have been able to compromise by providing lower quality, streaming music - Spotify in Europe, for instance - have rather obviously been unable to produce direct profits comparable to the level of sharing; the companies want sharing eradicated in a misguided attempt to maximise their profits, so they see a small encroachment as a failure (hence Warner's withdrawal from this service. Universal say they've made more from Spotify than iTunes in Sweden, mind you). The idea of streaming music on the iPhone with their premium service has also divided the companies, and people are still going to want proper, tagged music in the usual MP3 player interface before they make their minds up.

Quality is also an interesting issue: regardless of the actual difference in quality (with the right equipment) between a good 192 MP3 and FLAC, say, most countries still can't buy music downloads in any variety of bitrates and formats, something only facilitated by filesharing or CD purchases which are more expensive and external to streaming services.

tswarthog The Iconoclast

15 years ago

Yushi wrote...

Waar wrote...

came in here to laugh at you for using limewire.

me too

^^^ U-Torrent FTW!

Gambler

15 years ago

I did not exactly read through the entire article. However, what worries me is not the shutting down of Limewire; when the authorities score such a victory, they have a tendency to think along the following lines:

"Hey, now that we have forced Limewire to end their filesharing activities, let us move on the bigger fishes."

Perhaps I am just being paranoid...

gmastah29

15 years ago

limewire sucks!

56714a2ca49427c7f1e16ecf1

15 years ago

At first I used LimeWire, then It sucked, then i used bearshare then it updated to from good to bad. Then I discovered torrenting and life has never been better. Also Limewire sucks.

DaVinci

15 years ago

Chrian wrote...

At first I used LimeWire, then It sucked, then i used bearshare then it updated to from good to bad. Then I discovered torrenting and life has never been better. Also Limewire sucks.

That all sucks...I'd rather use rapidshare or sth like this. I've got fucked up of torrenting....

Sneakyone

15 years ago

Im glad its gone, I used it once and got a virus, I prefer Utorrent

Serasade

15 years ago

Limewire failed anyway, Ton of viruses and basically all of the popular songs were "Previews".

gizgal

15 years ago

Ugh, Limewire was bad back in the day... I'm guessing it's just as bad now. Even on a Mac it felt like it was hurting my computer!

Iam1vs100xp

15 years ago

in any ways. torrent for sure is the best

shinji_ikari Mustn't Run Away...

15 years ago

I thought only pedophiles used limewire so that they could trade CP...i never knew it actually had MUSIC on it...fucking shocking really

Renovartio

15 years ago

music costs a lot. I mean not everyone is going to buy a cd just because they like ONE of the songs. I mean 15 bucks.... Might as well buy a manga and some dinner >.>

Iam1vs100xp

15 years ago

limewire?, hmmm.. swoosh!

porcelain_doll

15 years ago

shinji_ikari wrote...

I thought only pedophiles used limewire so that they could trade CP...i never knew it actually had MUSIC on it...fucking shocking really

Back in the day the Gnutella network which Limewire connects to was ftw. Though same with Usenet, it's not that cool anymore for me.

Gambler wrote...

[...] what worries me is not the shutting down of Limewire; when the authorities score such a victory, they have a tendency to think along the following lines: [...]
Perhaps I am just being paranoid...

But it's not like they banned the network, just a client - most popular one, but still.

And btw, torrents completely without central trackers/servers are coming next - see piratebay and magnet links (which LimeWire introduced first iirc).