LimeWire Refuses to Die Quietly
PrintU.S. District Court Judge Kimba Wood essentially issued a death sentence for LimeWire after finding the peer-to-peer software firm guilty of copyright violations and issuing an injunction against he company in October. The obituary will have to wait.
According to a report in the Hollywood Reporter, LimeWire's attorneys have been busy trying to get third-party licensees to fork over a bunch of documents, everything from contracts and royalty payments, to accounting books and internal company communications. One of the firms being targeted is Amazon, though the etailer is reluctant to cooperate.
"Amazon's contention that it need not produce revenue information and communications regarding its agreements with Plaintiffs because these documents are equally obtainable from Plaintiffs is wrong on the facts and the law," attorneys for LimeWire wrote in a statement. "The Subpoena requests documents that could not be within Plaintiffs' possession, e.g. purely internal Amazon communications regarding its licensing agreements with Plaintiffs placed on their copyrighted works."
LimeWire claims it has a right to these documents in order to defend against the RIAA's claim of $1 billion in damages. The argument here is that these documents and internal communications could help determine what took place while negotiating over licensing songs for sale, which "could illuminate Plaintiffs' views as to the true value of their works."
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tekknyne
January 05, 2011 at 7:13pm
It's nothing short of coincidence that current laws and morality are not mutually exclusive. Laws have nothing to do with morals- they have more to do with profit and control (imo). I think stealing is legally and morally wrong. I also think that putting out sh*** movies and records and charging $15 a crack is also very, very wrong. So how do you meet in the middle? Steal a few good movies and pay for a few crappy ones? The problem with Americans is that we have been far too over privileged for far too long and now we get to see what happens when those privileges disappear. It's human nature to put as little effort into anything and try to get the most out of it. Neither Businesses nor consumers are immune to that.
Gunloc
January 04, 2011 at 2:05pm
I say it's time to go after all libraries too and shut them down. All these people borrowing copyrighted material there for decades! Books, cd's, movies, you name it all for their own personal enjoyment.
Atomike
January 05, 2011 at 7:58am
Trying to equate libraries with Limewire? Really? Either you're 9 years old, or just not really interested in typing a valid argument.
Grown ups don't make arguments like this. I'm not even going to explain why you're wrong. It's just way too obvious.
If you're being serious, then our school system has truly failed us.
I weep for the future.
Gunloc
January 07, 2011 at 1:25pm
I was just throwing out there what I thought was a humorous comparison that we all borrow copyrighted items. I don't use limewire, I could be older than you not that it matters, and I have no interest in commenting on personal information.
When Sony makes a dual cassette boom box and blank tapes when I was a kid and gives me the ability to dub a bunch of cassettes, the ability to record music off the radio, and I'm not reselling these recordings, I just don't see what all the fuss is. It's these companies that get lobbyists to persuade politicians to make laws to protect their profits and campain donations is the real problem.
Installing unlicensed software on a bunch of computers with the same serial at the same time is one thing, but enjoying a music track or watching a movie to me is another. What's next, if you sing a song out loud will you have to pay a royalty fee? Will they go after cover bands? If I buy a Bluray movie and invite people over to watch it will I be prosecuted for sharing it? Probably when I rip it to play it on other devices that I own. When I've already bought music recorded to an album, then rebuy it on cassette, then cd, and then if I download it in mp3 format using limewire because it's faster and more convinient than trying to convert it myself is that wrong too? The list goes on. I'm just having some fun with this subject.
Happy New Year to you all.
Eoraptor
January 04, 2011 at 12:39pm
Well, I wanted to comment on this, but apparently I am a spammer, sorry I won't be allowed to share my thoughts.
lunchbox73
January 04, 2011 at 11:51am
What kind of idiots still use Limewire anyway? Putting ethical and legal issues aside for a minute downloading torrents is way better and not so malware filled of an experience. I only know this by all the 100% legal downloads I do. ;)
Fecal Face
January 04, 2011 at 3:29pm
I know, when I borrowed music off a friend using Limewire years ago, it was all improperly-tagged and labelled incorrectly, or sometimes the song name was spelled wrong. I would usually never get the whole album either.
But, when I use a torrent, it's all nicely organized with the album art and it's properly named, tagged, and labelled.
Of course that's just speculation, I would never pirate music... ;)
kyosanshugi
January 04, 2011 at 11:34am
everyone who thinks limewire is stealing can stop and think about this, Limewire is a P2P meaning that its the users that use it as such... its like pon shops they buy stuff all the time sometimes they could be buying stolen stuff but that doesnt make then the bad guys, because they buy stuff with good intent, but the people use it for bad intent
Caboose
January 04, 2011 at 1:37pm
What's a pon shop? I think you mean a pawn shop. And pawn shops really frown upon buying and selling stolen goods as it gets them in trouble. That is why most pawn shops (at least the ones up here in Canada) will verify serial numbers with the police. If a serial number matches an item that is stolen well then the police are contacted. If someone claims an item is stolen and the SN is verified to be at a pawn shop then its returned.
Regardless, you can't tell me that people were using limewire and not realizing that the items that were being downloaded were copyrighted materials and obtaining them outside of legal means wouldn't get them in trouble. Ignorance of the law is no excuse to break the law.
That being said, if you get a virus or your PC is hijacked or anything else bad happens as a result of using Limewire, then too bad for you. You get what you deserve!
Atomike
January 04, 2011 at 10:37am
They all deserve to get viruses. They can't EVER be considered good human beings. A thief is a thief is a thief.
jth
January 04, 2011 at 1:28pm
That is a completely overblown and unreasonable take on the situation. Also, it may not be right, worse even, but copyright infringement is not stealing.
Atomike
January 05, 2011 at 7:56am
Okay - it's 2 different words for the same moral action. Just like drooling is not slobbering. Yet the both involve the same action for all intents and purposes. If you think that copyright infringement is not immoral, then you have a serious problem. The morality is the real issue.
DDTechGuy
January 04, 2011 at 10:06am
Just curious if anyone is sueing LimeWire for all the computers that have been infected/infested by viruses, spyware, spam and/or malware in general?
I can't imagine the thousands of man hours spent fixing computers damaged directly or indirectly from LW's 'service'
DDTG
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