LimeWire
LimeWire has permanently closed its doors and ceased its file sharing after a federal judge signed an injunction to stop LimeWire from further activity. The court found it guilty of assisting users in committing copyright infringement “on a massive scale.”
A lawsuit was filed against the company in 2006 on behalf of the major record labels by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
The suit, filed by the RIAA in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, charged LimeWire with facilitating “pervasive online infringement.” It also accused LimeWire of allowing and actively encouraging users to participate in music piracy.
“For the better part of the last decade, LimeWire and Gorton have violated the law,” the RIAA said. “The court has now signed an injunction that will start to unwind the massive piracy machine that LimeWire and Gorton used to enrich themselves immensely.”
LimeWire posted the following notice on its website:
“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.”
In a statement Tuesday, the RIAA said the court will conduct a trial in January to determine damages.
