Limewire shut down for good

Oct 27, 2010 6:43 AM by Meagan Morris

Posted in Living / Technology

Limewire Shut Down: End Of Free?

A federal judge ruled that file-sharing service Limewire violated copyrights and ordered it shut down. Will the company have to pay the RIAA for damages?

Limewire shut down by federal judge

Looks like you'll actually have to pay for your downloads now.

A federal judge shut down Limewire permanently after ruling it helps people violate copyright laws "on a massive scale."

Illegal downloads

The Recording Industry Association of America -- known for their lawsuits against people who download illegally -- filed the lawsuit agains Limewire, saying they actively allowed people to download copyrighted content on their service. They said that 93 percent of Limewire's traffic comes from people downloaded pirated music and movies.

The shut-down comes after federal judge Kimba Wood liable for copyright violations in May 2010 and deemed Limewire founder Mark Gordon personally liable in the case. The RIAA then filed motions to have Limewire shut down permanently.

Website message

Limewire posted this message on their website Tuesday:

"THIS IS AN OFFICIAL NOTICE THAT LIMEWIRE IS UNDER A COURT-ORDERED INJUNCTION TO STOP DISTRIBUTING AND SUPPORTING ITS FILE-SHARING SOFTWARE. DOWNLOADING OR SHARING COPYRIGHTED CONTENT WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION IS ILLEGAL."

Limewire also responded with a blog post from their CEO, George Searle.

"[Limewire is] naturally disappointed with this turn of events," Searle wrote. "We're deeply committed to working with the music industry and making the act of loving music more fulfilling for everyone."

The case will reconvene in January to assess damages -- the amount charged to Limewire could top $1 billion.

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Tags: downloads limewire

Comments

Comments on "Limewire shut down for good"

Do you really believe Limewire is the only place that people can download music? There are still torrent sites and plenty of other P2P sites that fly under the radar. There is also software to block IP's from scanning your system as you are downloading so record companies can't track your downloads. There will always be a way. They may make some money off of this, but it will never go away and people will just get smarter about the way they download.

It's about time. Limewire is scheisty. I never understood how Napster could be shut down but Limewire still existed.

What?? Celebrities and producers already make a crap ton of money. So what if they miss out on a few thousands dollars so we po' people can have our music. Plus, um yeah, iTunes has been upping on its prices per song. Not cool. Bring back Limewire!

Rhonda, Limewire is stealing. It's essentially peddling a product for free at the expense of the artists/producers, etc. who create the songs. Limewire should be shut down.

NOOOOOOOOOO! Not my Limewire :(