Limewire shuts down
The popular online file share site LimeWire is now a lemon, thanks to an injunction issued by federal judge Kimba Wood of the Southern District of New York on Oct 25 ordering LimeWire to prevent “the searching, downloading, uploading, file trading and/or file distribution functionality, and/or all functionality” of its software.
LimeWire has been shut down after having facilitated the sharing of music, movies and television for over 10 years.
The site was used by over 50 million people monthly, an estimated 58 percent of people who download music using peer to peer file sharing.
A trial determining the damages incurred by LimeWire and compensation that will be received by the Recording Industry Association of America or the RIAA is set to begin in January of 2011. Judge Wood says that she believes that the damages incurred by LimeWire’s parent group Lime Wire LLC to be “staggering,” and probably “well beyond” the New York-based company’s capabilities to pay.
The RIAA reported music sales of 7.7 billion dollars in 2009, down from 14.5 billion in 1999 and blames online music downloading and piracy for the decline in profits. As internet speeds increased, the prevalence of downloading television shows and movies had increased as well.
The RIAA, representing record labels owned by Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI Group, began litigation against Lime Wire LLC in 2006 and Judge Wood ruled in the RIAA’s favor in May of this year.
The news may not be all lemons --according to PC Prom magazine nearly 40 percent of files downloaded or shared via LimeWire contained malware or viruses.
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