RIAA Wins in LimeWire File Sharing Lawsuit

[engine]

RIAA Wins in LimeWire File Sharing Lawsuit [news.cnet.com]

In a decision that could mean sweeping changes to file sharing in the United States, a federal court has found the company that operates file-sharing service LimeWire liable for copyright infringement, according to court records reviewed by CNET.

U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood, for the Southern District of New York, on Tuesday granted summary judgment in favor of the music industry's claims that Lime Group, parent of LimeWire software maker Lime Wire, and founder Mark Gorton committed copyright infringement, engaged in unfair competition, and induced copyright infringement.

Wood's ruling could at the very least mean a shift in the downloading habits of millions. The logical next step by the Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group representing the four largest recording companies, is to get a preliminary injunction and force Lime Wire to cease LimeWire's file-sharing functionality.

[Hugene]

I think bitorent is still shielded form this, as no company operates a sharing service in that case. I don't know about the torent search engines though, could they get hit?

[Demaestro]

File sharing is like drug dealers, you take one out and another pops right in his place and keeps on going.

They had a victory against Napster, TPB, and now LimeWire, each time nothing changed except where and how people share music.

I am glad they stopped limewire, I am sick of helping people fix their computers after using it, but I think we all know that the people who want to download stuff are going to find a way.

[J_RaD]

I can't really be happy anytime I see "RIAA Wins Lawsuit"

[sgietz]

This is much like the war on drugs. It's not going to work.

In my opinion this is no different than me recording a song off the radio, burning it on a CD, letting my friend make a copy, who lets his friend make a copy and so on. Would they sue the radio station?

This won't work with torrents. They may be able to shut down a few torrent search engines, but as soon as one gets expunged, three more will appear. And suing individuals for sharing songs? That's a quick route for fans to boycott the recording industry.

Offering high-quality MP3 downloads for a reasonable price is how it will have to be done. There will always be piracy. As an artist, I might be upset that all my songs are being pirated, but I would be equally upset at how much of that money I generate for the record companies is being spent on suing file sharing sites. It's futile.

You can't sue your way back into the 20th century!

[J_RaD]

The price of CD's has finally fallen, but it could take another cut, it is a dying media for music.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Overturned on appeal, limewire doesn't own, host or claim to own any files or content. the same rules apply to every site equally so by that brush email, facebook and any other site that connects people together must also be shut down.

The ruling says "overturn me" already.

[disgust]

Overturned on appeal, limewire doesn't own, host or claim to own any files or content. the same rules apply to every site equally so by that brush email, facebook and any other site that connects people together must also be shut down.

The ruling says "overturn me" already.

... weren't people saying this when napster was shut down?

[kaled]

Reading between the lines, it sounds to me that making it possible to share copyrighted material is considered legal but taking steps to make it easy is considered illegal (and possible advertising the service too since that encourages illegal activity).

If my interpretation is correct, it seems to fit "safe harbour" thinking well. If you provide a service that is abused you are in the clear, unless you encourage that abuse. It doesn't affect me but I'm comfortable with this way of thinking.

Kaled.

[MWpro]

In my opinion this is no different than me recording a song off the radio, burning it on a CD, letting my friend make a copy, who lets his friend make a copy and so on. Would they sue the radio station?

Is this really your belief? Radio stations obtain a license to play the songs... that's why you hear all the hits over and over on popular radio stations. Record companies let the radio stations play selected music as a calculated, promotional maneuver.

You are really, for example, comparing recording one promotional song of an artist from the radio with downloading that artist's entire album?

There really no limit on the infringment opportunities that torrents or services like Limewire enable.

And other people justify it as "oh well the RIAA makes so much money it doesn't hurt them." Yeah? Well what about the smaller guys? An independent song, movie, instructional video popping up on a torrent can really devaste a small business. And I am not saying that it is ok to steal from the RIAA--it is still their copyright and it should be respected. This services make me sick, especially because obtaining a legal version of music or videos is so cheap and easy these days through services such as iTunes.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

I prefer not to think of it as anything, the equal application of law shouldn't be open for debate. As the ruling is worded now I think it SHOULD be overturned, it avoids being specific and apparently relies heavily on interpretation.

If I DID think of it as anything I agree that Limewire should be shut down, it doesn't police copyright abuse, BUT under which law do you shut them down? Certainly not the one used as it can be applied to every day email and text message services too.

You know, I don't know why I bother making this argument anyway. The last thing I want is the lawbook revisited and updated to differentiate between services because other things will get added into law at the same time. I suppose the law is broken just enough to still be usable and not need an overhaul, good enough.

[creeking]

been a while since I've seen the name "Kimba Wood". (flashback to the Clinton-years)