Limewire Lives... for Two More Weeks
PrintFile sharing service Limewire looks to be on its last legs. Late last week, the RIAA filed a motion with the court asking for a permanent injunction against Limewire offering their software. There was a possibility that the Judge could order Limewire shuttered immediately this morning. Instead, U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood is giving Limewire two weeks to respond to the motion. At that time, in all likelihood, Limewire will be ordered to close up shop.
It was just last month that Wood found that Limewire and its founder, Mark Gorton, were liable for copyright infringement. Limewire has made significant sums of cash while providing their file sharing software. Limewire's legal counsel asked for an additional two weeks to respond to the motion, but was denied. "We feel a permanent injunction is not the best course of action. It could hold back the creation of new digita-music technologies that LimeWire is in the process of developing..." the company said.
Damages have not yet been awarded, but many expect the judgment could top $1 billion. Is anyone out there still using Limewire's products? How do you feel about the precedent of a company being held liable for copyright infringement committed by users?
More like this
36
Comments
Comments are closed on this article
tony2tonez
November 01, 2010 at 3:41pm
I wonder with all the lawsuits they filed against P2P. How much of the money they won went back to the Artist they are fighting for? Those are the real pirates!
Mr Kettle meet Mr Pot
COMMANDER_COOK
June 08, 2010 at 10:48pm
Even if LimeWire is 'shutdown', will that only prevent them from selling it and offering it for download, or will it also make existing installations quit working? People will probably start sharing the latest limewire with each other instead of buying it, like most people do anyways.
----------------------------------
Donate blood! http://www.redcrossblood.org/
winmaster
June 08, 2010 at 6:55pm
While I don't think that Lime Wire should be held responsible for the actions of their users, I won't miss it once it gets shut down. Lime Wire is a piece of junk. Seriously, am I the only one who thinks its ironic that they want you to pay for a file sharing program.
Come on people. Just switch to Frost Wire. At least its open source.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
immersive
June 08, 2010 at 10:48am
So there is actors, producers, sound techs, etc. Basicly everything there could be needed to produce a TV show. We pay our cable company so much money for there TV. Really it isnt much concidering you can get about 200+ channels for about $100 bucks. So that would be about 50 cents per channel per day right? Now split that up between all the shows on a channel for a 24hr span. Not much cash goes to all them people that work in TV. So how do they make cash? ADS!
Limewire don't charge for anythink other then there primium software. Thats not much cash there. There other income probably comes from ads I would guess.Sounds to me they are almost using the model that TVs stations use only not giving back to the music industry. Damn smart idea if I do say so myself.
Now back to TV. I understand there is a few movie stars that make millions of dollars a year and I am ok with that. The movie stars are very talented and most of them work really hard for what they get. On the other hand there is normal TV series people that don't make million a year. They may make uper class wages if that. I understand how all that works. Most of there income comes from ads I would suspect. While movie stars income comes from DVD and Theaters.
Now why in the hell dose someone that can stand in front of a mic and sing make 15+ million a year for what maybe 18 songs? Im sorry but I have a problem with some 16+ year old sets there sings 18 songs and brings home that much cash. All becuse they rap the hell out of the people that pay 20+ for 1 CD. Most singers to me should be more in line with the TV series people.
If I had the resorces and the funds to get started this is how I would work the music industry in the new age.
1st I would need a program that works on all divices. Internet TV, cell phones, PC, Mac, linux, and even your car; also any other divice you could all think of.
2nd you would be able to stream all the music or radio talk shows all day long for say $50 a month. That would allow you to log in and stream to all the devices all day long.
3rd each station would be set up almost like a radio station with an ad every 3 to 5 songs or something like that. Bam now theres some income right there.
4th now on top of all that I do understand there is still alot of people and divices without internet, the company would have to supply a music player with the $50 a month price tag that would allow you to download any song you want and play it up to 5 times before you reconected to a wifi network.
Now why would I give you a divice you had to reconnect every 5 plays? Ads! You reconnect to the internet to redownload the song and of course you see ads!
Now the ads don't have to be more adds for music. Why would they? Dose soap have anything to do with 90210? Nope it sure don't. Also most radio ads have nothing to do with music.
All this along with the option to purchase a DRM free song for maybe 10-25 cents.With lifetime downloads if you by chance lose the mp3 from a hard drive crash or something.
How do you stop people from sharing accounts? Tie it all up with your bank account info like Itunes dose.
Oh now all the music people get compisated like TV guys do.
This is just me blowing a shit load of smoke. Probably some of the worst spelling you have ever seen and its long winded. Oh well maybe ya get the point.
WarlordComputers
June 07, 2010 at 11:44pm
Within my company we enjoy Limewire as a means to transfer data amongst ourselves for a small business. There are other uses for Limewire and we see the RIAA stance and do not infringe on their copyright stance. We have used it to transfer business documents, photos, and also our own person audio recordings of meetings when we are clearly across the miles. Yes it is slow, but it does use its purpose. Not all of us can carry our business servers with us, so when Employee A is in City Y and needs to send something to Employee B who is in City Z, Limewire works best for us for direct connect rather then Transfer it to home bases server and then from the server to the other employee. Will still take just as long in our venture. Hope Limewire will live.
Markitzero
June 07, 2010 at 10:24pm
I have used there client I can't stand it with its parade of ads and the programs clunkyness on it laging even the most fastes PC.
bobla90042
June 07, 2010 at 10:15pm
The problem here isn't Limewire or the pirates--it's the failed business plan of the media industry. They are still operating in the 1950s against 21st century technology. They need the big settlements to make up for their failed politicies. They need to figure out a way to give the viewing public way to access media that provides a revenue stream to pay production costs but is fair, easy and reasonably priced to consumers. I should be able to buy a movie, and watch it wherever I want--in a theater, at home through my cable districutor, or through the net. When I buy a book, I can read it wherever I want, whenever I want. And I don't need to keep paying for it everytime I move to another location, or if I want to reread it later. I can even make copies of it so long as I don't abuse the system.
s1r 70nk
June 07, 2010 at 8:40pm
So once lime wire is out of the spotlight, the RIAA will move on to the next file sharing program. Good luck to the RIAA. I know of three other file sharing servers/programs that will remain functional. Plus whatever happen to good old FTP? Or do some people forget that this is what the internet was made for. it was made for the creation and sharing of files for the public. (Yes, i do know that the armed forces created the internet as means of communication between branches.)
winmaster
June 08, 2010 at 6:50pm
With all the bitching about the SPAM filter here, you'd think that this comment would not exist.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
agartner15
June 07, 2010 at 6:17pm
Pirates will just move to other things like frostwire, torrents, and online file hosting sites!!
K0BALT
June 07, 2010 at 5:26pm
ARES FTW
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
i7 920@4.4GHz,Heatkiller 3.0, EVGA GTX480, EVGA GT240(PhysX), EVGA X58 3X SLI, 6GB DDR3 OCZ Gold @ 1770MHz
Danthrax66
June 07, 2010 at 4:02pm
http://digg.com/tech_news/74_Democrats_sold_out_to_AT_T_Verizon_and_Comcast Speaking of the riaa and the internet look at this bullshit there are a lot of useful links in the comments to petitions and a list of the 74 that signed it. Write to your representatives and congressman let them know what you think fortunately my congressman supports net neutrality so I emailed him to keep supporting it.
Jims45wow
June 07, 2010 at 4:21pm
The "Net Neutrality" legislation is not neutral. Neutral would be, "Hands Off of the Net".
In my (still increasing) experience, 73% of legislation is in opposition to it's title, and the remaining 27% contains items which violate the titles principle. ;0
Jim
zNelson24
June 07, 2010 at 3:31pm
I don't use Limewire, but the makers didn't do anything wrong. They made software, and end users just happened to have used it at a wrong end. The people who upload copywrited material are at fault here.
aviaggio
June 07, 2010 at 2:46pm
Can we all say "overturned on appeal"?
I think we should all fire up LimeWire and download the Hurt Locker.
Mark17
June 07, 2010 at 3:08pm
That sounds like an excellent idea! I'll download it five times just for fun!
Peanut Fox
June 07, 2010 at 2:39pm
I'm not going to pretend that LimeWire didn't know what it was getting into. If something you own causes damage to someone else's property you can be held liable. The difference here is it's impossible to estimate damages on products that don't have a physical presents. Every illegal download wasn't a lost sale. How can you even begin to estimate damages that you can't show?
Danthrax66
June 07, 2010 at 2:49pm
"If something you own causes damage to someone else's property you can be held liable." So if someone steals my car and drives into a house it is my fault come on this is bullshit they have no control over what goes into the the gnutella network. They aren't even the only application that uses it. What they should do is just move to another country and host it from there. I don;t use it because it is filled with malware but this is just bullshit, broken U.S. law that needs to change.
Jims45wow
June 07, 2010 at 4:37pm
You bring a good point. When you loan someone your car, you can be liable for damages it causes. When someone uses your care without your permission, you are not (normally) liable for damage it causes.
Generally, reporting the car stolen is sufficiently demonstrates your inculpability.
Instructions for my wrist-watch say (basically) "Don't look at your watch while walking...", to demonstrate their inculpability if I fall and skin my knee.
Limewire demonstrates it's inculpability by having users agree to NOT illegally copy.
Jim
Peanut Fox
June 07, 2010 at 3:10pm
Note the word "can". In this instance it implies that there is a "chance" you could be held liable, not that you indefinably will. I was hinting at something like your dog hops your fence and destroys your neighbor's flower garden across the street. In this instance you would likely be held liable for the damages.
LimeWire knew that illegal file sharing was taking place using it's software and made no attempt to correct the problem. Should LimeWire be responsible for the copyright infringement is a difficult question to answer. LimeWire doesn't host nor share the files directly, but instead allows users to connect to one another's PCs to download files remotely. Legally they aren't doing anything wrong.
So if LimeWire can in no way be held responsible, that leaves the RIAA one other option to reclaim "losses", that would be to go after the users. People should not be able to illegally obtain content that someone else has created and not be held accountable. Someone is at fault, and if not LimeWire then who?
aviaggio
June 07, 2010 at 3:20pm
"Legally they aren't doing anything wrong"
Conspiracy to facilitate copyright infringement. If you know someone is breaking the law and do nothing to stop it you're just as guilty as they are, at least in the eye of the law. It's considerably worse if you're making a profit from it.
Jims45wow
June 07, 2010 at 4:27pm
"If you know someone is breaking the law and do nothing to stop it you're
just as guilty as they are, at least in the eye of the law."--Uh, NOT.
Jim
Peanut Fox
June 07, 2010 at 3:45pm
I pointed this out; but LimeWire's software does require you to agree that you will not use their software for illegal file sharing. All LimeWire does is index files that users make available and then allow said users who's search queries that match the file to download that file if they so please. Nothing illegal about that. If anything users violated this agreement and are the ones at fault.
While it's obvious that LimeWire knew their software was being used for copywrite infringment, like has been stated twice already they made no attempt to stop it. I personally think LimeWire should shoulder some blame, but the users who knowingly made illegal copies of these files should have a larger stake in this.
Rather than sit around and fine people made up amounts of money, I'd like to see a court actually put a value on what an illegal copy of a song or video is worth. That, and maybe see some jail time for the offenders.
Vegan
June 07, 2010 at 5:11pm
Oh, but everyone argues that EULAs aren't legally binding when it negatively affects them. I smell a double-standard.
Peanut Fox
June 07, 2010 at 6:00pm
Digital copywrite is full of double standards. You can leagally back up DVDs you own, but you aren't allowd to break the copy protection in order to do so.
The agreement to not use LimeWire to share illegal copyright material comes as a separate pop up when you start the program for the first time. While it's also in the EULA, users are given at minim two chances to see it.
majorsuave
June 07, 2010 at 4:09pm
Most online companies that find flaws in their software that would allow one person to abuse another party usually patch these flaws in the shortest time possible.
Peanut Fox
June 07, 2010 at 6:08pm
LimeWire engineers not doing anything to stop illegal file sharing on their software isn't so much a flaw as it is an intentional oversight.
Danthrax66
June 07, 2010 at 3:57pm
Oh shit they covered their ass I hope this ruling gets overturned because limewire clearly thought this through.
aviaggio
June 07, 2010 at 3:08pm
But if you know there is a very high chance that the person who stole your car would drive it into a house then yes, you could be held liable. Hell, a court recently ruled that a guy with an unencrypted wifi was responsible for copyright infringement committed by others that were using his connection without his knowledge. The judge said it was his responsibility to protect his connection from those that seek to break the law. Now THAT'S bullshit IMO.
This is how they get nailed -- the judge accepts that LimeWire knew the majority of files being shared are illegal and did nothing about it. I'm not saying it's right, I'm just explaining how the courts see things.
TechMan2525
June 07, 2010 at 5:03pm
That could work both ways, that is, LimeWire could say that it is the RIAA's responsability to make it so their digital property can't be copied. Yet somebody is finding away around this and hacking the digital files, from the RIAA's perspective they should be going after them. I locked my door and they broke in! Not just walked in cause i didn't secure the goods, they malliciously broke the lock that was obviously there to keep intruders out, see where i'm going with this? I'm not disagreeing with you, it's just an argument that LimeWire could soundly make.
(I love Peter Jackson as a movie director. Go 1920x1080p)
avenger48
June 07, 2010 at 9:02pm
"LimeWire could say that it is the RIAA's responsability to make it so their digital property can't be copied"
Yes, but your argument is the reason you can't copy a DVD and they're working to keep you from copying CD's, even if you own them.
aviaggio
June 07, 2010 at 2:49pm
Thing is they don't have to. All they have to show is that infringements occurred. They can then be awarded up to $150,000 per infringement.
This is why the RIAA can get such high awards, even though they themselves have admitted they can't prove ANY financial loss or damages.
MOATSAD
June 07, 2010 at 9:41pm
They could protect their DVDs and CDs (using a share key) but why bother... They have attorneys on payroll just for this sort of thing. As you point out $150,000 PER infringement. It only takes about 6 occurances to add up to a million dollars!
So they just sit back and watch and wait for the next big file sharing program company to come up in the ranks, make some big money and then go after them.
It's a mess, I hope Limewire does get this overturned.
Connect with MaximumPC
Featured Content
The gang discusses the GTX 690, Trinity, Ivy Bridge, Amazon, big-box stores, MMOs,...
This month's issue
Feature
Build a PC On Any Budget
Feature
Cloud Services Showdown
How-To
Encrypt Your External Drive
Build It
Upgrade an X58 Rig
Most Commented Articles
Latest Max PC Tweets
- maximumpc: Original RickRoll Video Returns to YouTube After 24-Hour Copyright Hiatus http://t.co/MaH9Sxyy1 day 19 hours ago
- maximumpc: Corsair has decided not to go forward with its $78 million IPO, citing weak equity market conditions http://t.co/A5a4DAzj1 day 19 hours ago
- maximumpc: Want to work at Maximum PC? Our Online Managing Editor, Alex, is moving away, so we need a new one. http://t.co/9Z7JCh0E3 days 16 hours ago
