Just when you thought the Internet was becoming a DMZ for the RIAA, along comes news that P2P company LimeWire has been hit with a major complaint by the recording industry. Sony BMG Music, Vivendi Universal Music, Warner Music Group and EMI have sued LimeWire in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York seeking $150,000 for each instance in which LimeWire helped to distribute an unauthorized song.
It’s the first post-Grokster suit against an online P2P company — the record companies allege that LimeWire is actively facilitating, encouraging and enticing users to swap music illegally by failing to block access to copyrighted works and by profiting from the illegal sharing of songs. In Grokster, the Supreme Court ruled that to the extent a site encourages copyright violations, then the site is liable for penalites undcer the copyright laws.
The Gnutella-based LimeWire is the leading file-sharing program for music, the RIAA contends, and hasn’t stepped forward with a deal to reshape itself into a legitimate music distributor, the way Napster and Kazaa have (Kazaa just settled with the RIAA and MPAA).
“While other services have come productively to the table, LimeWire has sat back and continued to reap profits on the backs of the music community,” the trade group said. “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, as well as those companies building legitimate businesses based on music.”
LimeWire is wisely saying nothing — the best posture to follow when hit by a complicated, life-threatening lawsuit by well-backed, litigious plaintiffs. The LimeWire blog has been totally silent today.
Cynthia Brumfield at 4:56 PM|Comments(0)
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