RIAA Claims Small Victory After Shutting Down LimeWire

By: Qichen Zhang on 28 October 2010
Posted in United States of America, United States/Canada, Copyright, Take-down

Major news sources report that popular peer-to-peer music downloading service LimeWire has been officially dismantled by U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood this week.

This four year battle marks a considerable win for the Recording Industry Association of America, who first filed a copyright infringement case against the popular music sharing software in 2006. After the ruling, the RIAA posted an afterthought on its official blog, lambasting LimeWire and its services for destroying American recording artists’ revenue as well as their commercial sustainability. According to the RIAA:

“The operators of LimeWire continue to tout how ‘proud’ they are of their service. To be clear, for the better part of the last decade, LimeWire and its operators have violated the law, and in doing so, enriched themselves immensely.”

Released in 2000, LimeWire soared to the top as one of the most popular file sharing applications for free on the Internet. Its P2P technology coupled with its popularity led to significant losses for the American music industry as people began using the service to circulate music among each other. According to the RIAA, LimeWire was responsible for $500 million worth of losses per month for American recording companies. LimeWire and the RIAA will face off in court again in January to determine the amount LimeWire owes in compensation (reports claim that the RIAA could ask for as much as $1 billion in retribution).

But this small victory definitely will not resolve all the issues involving music sharing on the Internet. PC World blogger Chloe Albanesius recently posted a variety of alternatives available to people who are now seeking other software to continue sharing music files. Other software—most of which are open source and free—that remain available for download include former LimeWire competitors such as FrostWire and uTorrent. And earlier reports from this year that the number of copyright suits from the RIAA have decreased in recent years, suggesting fewer legal pursuits.

For more information, access the LimeWire court injunction.