LimeWire Loses Copyright Case
A U.S. judge has ruled in favor of 13 music companies in a copyright case against online file-sharing service LimeWire.
U.S. District Court Judge Kimba Wood found LimeWire and its owner Mark Gorton liable for copyright infringement and unfair competition. The judgment relied on a Supreme Court judgment against song-swapping service Grokster.
"The evidence establishes that LimeWire users directly infringed plaintiffs’ copyrights, and that LimeWire engaged in purposeful conduct intended to foster that infringement," Wood said in a 59-page ruling on Tuesday that was released on Wednesday.
"Free distribution of the recordings through LimeWire competes with plaintiffs’ sales of the recordings," Wood said.
"Accordingly, the court grants plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment on their unfair competition claim against LimeWire," Wood added.
Mitch Bainwol, chairman of the Recording Industry Association of America, welcomed the ruling calling it "an important milestone in the creative community’s fight to reclaim the Internet as a platform for legitimate commerce."
"This definitive ruling is an extraordinary victory for the entire creative community," Bainwol said in a statement to the AFP news agency. "The court made clear that LimeWire was liable for inducing widespread copyright theft.
"Unlike other P2P services that negotiated licenses, imposed filters or otherwise chose to discontinue their illegal conduct following the Supreme Court’s decision in the Grokster case, LimeWire instead thumbed its nose at the law and creators," he said.
The music companies involved in the complaint brought on against LimeWire were Arista Records, Atlantic Recording Corp., BMG Music, Capitol Records, Elektra Entertainment Group, Interscope Records, Laface Records, Motown Records Co., Priority Records, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, UMG Recordings, Virgin Records America and Warner Bros. Records. The complaint was filed in 2006.
LimeWire software was released in August 2000 and uses peer-to-peer, or P2P, technology that allows users to share music or other files over the Internet.
CNET News, citing a survey by NPD Group, said that LimeWire’s 50 million monthly users account for 58 percent of people who said they downloaded music from a peer-to-peer service in 2009.
LimeWire Chief Executive George Searle said the company "strongly opposes" Wood’s ruling and is committed to working with the recording industry to develop products that help music listeners.
Mitch Bainwol, chief executive of The Recording Industry of Association of America said in a statement that he approved Wood’s ruling.
"The court’s decision is an important milestone in the creative community’s fight to reclaim the Internet as a platform for legitimate commerce," he told Reuters. "The court has sent a clear signal to those who think they can devise and profit from a piracy scheme that will escape accountability."
The RIAA said over 200 million copies of LimeWire’s file-sharing software has been downloaded so far, including 340,000 in last week alone.
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