Record labels win case against LimeWire

An American federal court ruled that the owners of file-sharing platform LimeWire are personally liable for copyright infringements.

LimeWire is, in the US, a popular piece of software for file sharing. With it, users can search each others music catalogues looking for files they would like to share. According to LimeWire, the platform has 50 million unique users per month. The program has been downloaded over 200 million times since its inception in 2000, says CNET, of which 340.000 times in the last week. The judge stated that the site’s revenue was 6 million dollar in 2004 and 20 million two years later.

The owners have always maintained not to be responsible for users sharing protected works. The RIAA thought differently on the matter and brought the matter to court in 2006.

Although LImeWire does not host files itself, the court ruled that the admins were indeed responsible for infringement. "The evidence demonstrates that [LimeWire] optimised [their] features to ensure that users [could] download digital recordings, the majority of which are protected by copyright," she said.. "[Lime Wire] assisted users in committing infringement."

The judge has not yet determined this issue of damages.

16 May 2010