Music industry sues P2P firm Lime Wire

After months of issuing warnings, the music industry finally made good on its threat to file suit against peer-to-peer software company Lime Wire.

A group of music companies, including Sony BMG, Virgin Records and Warner Bros. Records, have accused Lime Wire and the company's officers of copyright infringement, according to a federal lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in New York. Lime Wire produces software that's often used to create copies of music recordings and then distribute them over the Web.

The recording industry is asking for compensatory and punitive damages, such as $150,000 for every song distributed without permission.

Lime Wire is "devoted essentially to the Internet piracy of plaintiffs' sound recordings," the record companies charge in their suit. "The scope of infringement caused by defendants is staggering."

The recording industry continues to pressure file-sharing companies that refuse to do one of two things: either adopt a business model that compensates record companies, or shut down.

Last week, the makers of the Kazaa file-sharing system agreed to pay the record industry $115 million and use a filtering technology to prevent users from distributing files that infringe on copyrights. Other companies that have either gone out of business or altered their business models are Grokster, WinMx and BearShare.

"Despite numerous efforts to engage Lime Wire, the site's corporate owners have shown insufficient interest in developing a legal business model," the Recording Industry Association of America said in a statement. "While other services have come productively to the table, Lime Wire has sat back and continued to reap profits on the backs of the music community. That is unfortunate and has left us no choice but to file a lawsuit to protect the rights and livelihoods of artists, songwriters and record label employees."

Lime Wire representatives could not be reached for comment.

[unknown unknown]

Knew it was probably going to happen

Now the recording industry has to prove that Limewire took affirmative steps to encourage and promote their software as a tool for piracy. Of course Limewire is open source as is the Gnutella protocol it uses.

[Dibbs]

EVERYONE LOOK... FREE SAMICHES DO NOT DISREGARD THIS!!!

you! with the logical argument! PIPE DOWN!!!

[JoeCrow]

This was all over Dotso.com thursday ...

This was all over Dotso.com last Thursday, good way to judge what is hot IMHO.

[Leria]

LimeWire doesn't have any responsibility

LimeWire has no responsibility for what people do with their software. They SPECIFICALLY have a thing on their website where they ask you "Are you going to use LimeWire to infringe on copyright?" If you say yes, you cannot download the software.<br /><br />Sure, someone could LIE, but then again, the test of Grokster (unlike what most people say!) was that you had to SAY that using your software for illegal actions was wrong, AND keep people from getting it if you knew they were going to use it for infringement.<br /><br />LimeWire did this, so they are out of the eye of the Grokster ruling.<br /><br />This is just a waste of time anyway, whenever they shut down one network (and they haven't even succeeded at that!), a new one just pops up somewhere else.<br /><br />To the recording industy: STOP OVERCHARGING FOR YOUR MUSIC, especially online music!<br />Decrease your prices, put kiosks in stores where people can bring their own cd's or DVD's and burn them, and you will see more people buying your music.<br />The same really applies to game and software manufacturers as well, and to a lesser extent, movie makers.

[amaury2692]

Exactly

You go Leria thats whats up, I think you are totally right I back you up 100%

[emperor_joe]

just downloading at first is illegal

I'm pretty sure that if even ONE PERSON (the downloader) downloads a song without paying, that is illegal. So basically if they get LimeWire for even their own personal use, that is illegal, because they aren't paying. Therefore the whole concept of LimeWire would be illegal, making the responsibility fall to LimeWire.

[xakepxakep]

Responsibility

Is a telephone company responsible for a telephone conversation between terrorists, which lead to a 9/11-similar event? Using the music industry's logic, YES. So, shutting down the telephone companies is the only solution to the problem, isn't it? Or, as Stalin used to say: There is a man - there is a problem; there is no man - there is no problem. The conclusion is easy to draw: there is Internet - there is problem...

[time_wasted]

Don't buy...

The music industry's attitude and actions by suing individuals <br />and open source groups are precisely why I stopped buying <br />music from the music industry years ago. I was a 'big' source of <br />income for them with memberships in BMG, Columbia House, <br />etc. but that all stopped with their attacks. They next target(s) <br />will be the internet radios since, although a little cumbersome, <br />you can record music from your radio station and edit out what <br />you don't like/want and presto....you have your own copy free of <br />charge. If the music audience would put up a credible boycott of <br />the music industry for a prolonged period of time, it would be <br />brought to its knees and stop this nonsense....<br />And don't cry on my shoulder about how this takes food out of <br />the poor performing artists' mouths...that is a load of crap. The <br />recording industry companies are ripping the artists off not us, <br />and taking the foodout of the artists' mouth, not us. I.e., The <br />Righteous Brothers were broke when their career ended years <br />ago before the flap over copyright infringement by file sharing <br />ever came about, and it was their recording label company that <br />left them that way by ripping them off through their recording <br />contract...the artists didn't own the rights to their own songs. <br />Look at the Beatles....until recently Michael Jackson owned most <br />if not all of the rights to the Beatles songs, which he bought <br />from the recording industry labels who made all the money from <br />them...not the artists. So it is the music industry that is doing <br />the ripping off and is now crying/complaining that they are now <br />getting ripped off in turn......BooHooHoo!!!!!! Cry me a <br />river....poor babies. Fact of life....turn about is fair play.....and it <br />couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch of swindlers. How <br />many millions of dollars profit is enough for these companies???? <br />Their greed is only surpassed by their arrogance spiteful actions. <br />As for the artists, last time I looked, the amount of money they <br />made was hardly close to a poverty level....if they practiced some <br />sensible spending and informed investments strategies they <br />would have more than enough money for a lifetime....even at <br />their level of frivolous spending. They won't get much sympathy <br />from the millions of people who barely make above the <br />government's poverty level of income and see open source as a <br />means to obtain music that they would otherwise be unable to <br />afford to buy. The coporate greed and whining in this country <br />disgusts me.....but a smart alternative to fighting it is to buy you <br />music CD's used....that way the music industry doesn't make <br />anything off the subsequent sales after the initial new <br />sale....they make their money only once while resellers <br />contribute to the health of the economy and leave them out of <br />the loop. Whatever, just consider your next music purchase and <br />think about what you can do different that would deny the <br />bloated music industry its lion's share of the artists' work.

[bhines5]

Right On! This is pure greed and lies....

I could not agree more. The record industry has been ripping off artists for years, using them as scapegoats now to further their own greed. I have not bought any new CD's for quite some time now. Use Ebay, Deepdiscount CD &#38; DVD, used CD's or keep downloading. Screwing over artists such as TLC, Toni Braxton, Issac Hayes, Pharcyde, and so many others, they deserve it! Obviously we must be hitting them in the pocket for these kinds or reactions. I say boycott or refuse to buy new CD's. Many of us do not, even MSN has an article that says two of the biggest wastes of money is buying new CD's and DVD's.

[technewsjunkie]

No worry, iTunes is filling in the missing Artists

They just added hold-out Metallica. I'm anxious for Led Zeppelin <br />and the Beatles. They are soon to follow, then there will be no need <br />to resort to non commercial sources of music.<br /><br />As a LONG time music purchaser and musician with disdain of <br />music industry's greed, I am extremely happy with Apple's 99 cent <br />per tune offering where you own them as well (regardless of how <br />new it is).

[idsantos]

Maybe I shoukd...

1) All of the car manufactures, because someone is using cars for ilegal stuf.<br /><br />2) All airplane manufactures, because teorists use then for ilegal purposes.<br /><br />3) And I could be going on for centuries...

[qwerty75]

How much will the artists be getting out of any money awarded

$0

[startiger]

True

I have met a couple major artest. They say that the vast majority of their money comes from concert and preformances. They get little for the actual music sales.

[arcon5-news]

flood gates open, bearshare next? LimeWire sued

After months of issuing warnings, the music industry finally made good on its threat to file <a href="http://www.arcon5.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=715">suit against peer-to-peer software company LimeWire</a>. <br /><br /><br />Would this mean the flood gates have opened for law suits against other Peer-to-peer software developers such as BearShare?<br /><br />Reminds me abit about what happened with ThePirateBay!!!

[arcon5-news]

Link correction

link: <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.arcon5.com/modules.php?name=Forums&#38;file=viewtopic&#38;t=715" target="_newWindow">http://www.arcon5.com/modules.php?name=Forums&#38;file=viewtopic&#38;t=715</a>

[skeptik]

lies, da*n lies

"LimeWire is "devoted essentially to the Internet piracy of plaintiffs' sound recordings," the record companies charge in their suit."<br /><br />Everyone knows that many people use it exclusively for downloading movies and not music at all!<br />Case dismissed.

[Central_office_tech]

lol

movies, software, porn... mp3's are so 90's

[bhines5]

LIES AND GREED

I could not agree more. The record industry has been ripping off artists for years, using them as scapegoats now to further their own greed. I have not bought any new CD's for quite some time now. Use Ebay, Deepdiscount CD &#38; DVD, used CD's or keep downloading. Screwing over artists such as TLC, Toni Braxton, Issac Hayes, Pharcyde, and so many others, they deserve it! Obviously we must be hitting them in the pocket for these kinds or reactions. I say boycott or refuse to buy new CD's. Many of us do not, even MSN has an article that says two of the biggest wastes of money is buying new CD's and DVD's. Last is, when was the last time you bought a CD and it was good? I mean most songs are good on the album, these days it is a rare occurence. Is it worth a premium price to pay for 1-5 good tracks? NO.

[A Leon]

RIAA

I agree and like you, I don't buy anymore CD's and never will. 1 maybe 2 songs on a CD that are good the rest is junk. That's why I downloaded because I was tired of buying CD's with nothing good on them. Now I don't buy any, thank's RIAA you saved me alot of money.

[djmatt6899]

Limewire will prevail

Limewire has the financial resources to fight the recording industry and we have a God given right to share!!!!!!!!!

[Shishire]

Think about it...

LimeWire actually asks you whether you will use it for copyright infringement, and denies you download if you say you will. Granted, people will lie, but that's not Limewire's fault.

[amaury2692]

Leave Lime Wire Alone

They need to leave lime wire alone let downloaders free cause i think probably half the money (if its won(which hopefully doesnt happen)will be given to the greedy artist cause they waste all their money on crap)they should just leave lime wire out of it!(one of the best p2p sharing in the world)

[812edward]

LEAVE LIMEWIRE ALONE

I don't understand why writers,recording artist, &#38; recording company's,can be so greedy,especialy when it involves recordings from the fifties and sixties,when all those people are dead.I borrow CDs from my friends,check them out from the public library,and buy from CD exchange places,most of the time.

[huanbei]

y u listen to music then?

stop listen to music if u hate the greedy artist.

[phatbaby00]

The music industry is right...

Everyone should pay for all their music. People who have file sharing clients installed should be shot. The people in the music industry aren't making enough money. We should each turn ourselves in one at a time.

[sharvia]

Make sense?

Music industry should start sues against Microsoft wich give us the tools for dowmloading/copy anything we want.

[kccowboy7164]

Stupid Companies

You know is it was not for people in this world there would be no record companies to start with. I think if everyone just stopped buying stuff period they would start thinking about sticking thier nose in someone else's buisness. People have for year been recording off music and sharing it with other people clear back in the cassette days and now the music industry wants to complain. I really think more of the musicians should start posting thier work online like google and myspace cause some groups already have and it has made sales of thier albums go even higher by letting people listen to the music first. I dont agree totally that people should be downloading music if they are using it to make money but if its for thier own personal use then leave them the hell alone. Im sure those big guys in the music industry havent atleast a few times done the same **** themselves. I know some people in the music industry and they are always giving friends and family copies of stuff thats coming out so why is that any darn different. I hope Limewire wins this battle and if everyone who uses it stands up for Limewire what choice do they have to back off. I dont use Limewire myself but still would like to see them come out on top for once. Dont let this be another napster all over again.

[kccowboy7164]

Idiot

People have been for years sharing music with each other including people in the music industry too . If it was not for people they would not have a job to start with cause we are the ones who keep them in buisness. Think before you speak. Like you aint never shared something with someone yourself....lol

[1musicman1]

I sincerly hope that Limewire takes this case to court and forces all of the "big name" record companies to finally PROVE that downloading files caused them to lose any money at all. In the past the RIAA and these record companies have been crying "foul" because they are losing money because people are downloading music files...I say PROVE IT! These companies and the RIAA have been "scaring" file sharing companies to pay them money they don't deserve to get by threatening them with "cease and desist" letters along with financial ruin. <br />See...here's how I know the RIAA is full of bull. Does anybody remember when cassettes came out? The record companies were scared that people would copy the cassettes and make illegal copies, thus cutting them into their profits. Did they lose money behing the advent of the cassette and the cassette recorder? No...they did not...even tho' if you look at the fine print on the early cassettes, they warned everybody and their mother that copying cassettes was illegal. <br />I say that the advent of the computer and the cd did NOT cause for the record companies to lose money thru illegal file sharing. <br />We can go to classrooms...and copy what is in schoolbooks and receive good grades from what we copied...but we cannot have a copy of a file that somebody brought and decided to share with other people online? Amazing....that I cannot share what I have brought with whomever I want to share it with...whether it be a cd....dvd...or whatever. <br />But getting back to what I originally said...I want the RIAA to prove that ANY of the record companies lost money thru the advent of the cassette recorder when cassettes were the media of choice...compared to cd's and dvd's now...and although the SALES of cd's may be down...it doesn't mean the sales are down due to illegal file sharing. The music industry as a whole SUCKS and it sucks because artists are being forced to have to put out 12-15 songs per cd instead of 7-10...that albums used to dictate. Also, people today have shorter attention spans...they want to know about their fave artists NOW...and they don't want a lot of "filler" material in the music they listen to, because they have other artist they want to check out too, or other things that they want to do. <br />Why doesn't the RIAA talk about the money that these record companies "invest" into these new "artists"...a lot of whom CAN'T "sing" without the use of AUTOTUNE, and are lip-synching a lot times to prerecorded tracks...the only thing they have going for them is their good looks? <br />I don's see the RIAA rushing to pay people back their money after they have paid good money to see these "artist" in concert, and their prerecorded tracks start skipping....lol. <br />To sum all of this up...I feel, the music industry has been in bad shape for quite some time...matter of fact...I can remember before Michael Jackson released "Thriller"...the state of the music industry as far as sales are concerned, was in the DUMPS...just as it is today...even though the media of choice was the cassette...and the RIAA wasn't suing anyone then, and they shouldn't be suing anyone now. <br />Limewire...Kaazaa...BearShare...Winmx....Napster....all of you guys should have gotten together when they first went after Napster...realizing they would be coming for the rest of you guys, later, and created a legal fund from which to defend yourselves. <br />We should be embracing the good things that we reap from new technology instead of worrying about overzealousness. The RIAA's goal seems to be to make all the file sharing apps "business model" apps...so that they can get more money. <br />In closing, I wish Limewire the best, make the RIAA prove they lost money during the advent of the cassette and the cd...I guarantee you, they have lost NOTHING.