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RIAA Goes after LimeWire

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the another-one-bites-the-dust dept.

PCM2 writes "A coalition of major recording companies sued the operators of the file-sharing program LimeWire for copyright infringement Friday, claiming the firm encourages users to trade music without permission." From thge article: " The case is the first piracy lawsuit brought against a distributor of file-sharing software since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that technology companies could be sued for copyright infringement on the grounds that they encouraged customers to steal music and movies over the Internet. In the complaint, the record companies contend LimeWire's operators are "actively facilitating, encouraging and enticing" computer users to steal music by failing to block access to copyright works and building a business model that allows them to profit directly from piracy. "

7 of 304 comments (clear)

  1. OMG! The only ones left to sue... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...are the operators of usenet.

    1. Re:OMG! The only ones left to sue... by Alan · · Score: 5, Funny

      *shhhhhhhhh*

      The first rule of UseNet is we don't talk about UseNet.

  2. in related news... by irving47 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The RIAA and MPAA are teaming up to sue the highway patrol of all states with interstates that border on other states for failing to stop them and prevent them from allowing friends to copy their DVD's and CD's.

    --
    I had a sucky sig.
  3. The RIAA has no case by cwalk · · Score: 5, Interesting

    When you download limewire from limewire.com, you are prompted to make the following decision before your download begins: 1) I might use LimeWire BASIC for copyright infringement. OR 2) I will not use LimeWire BASIC for copyright infringement. Case closed.

  4. They're still going after the wrong people... by RulerOf · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's amazing to me that the RIAA hasn't figured out that they really need to sue those bastards that wrote TCP/IP and didn't think for a minute to include DRM in the original description... They've made so much money since all the networks that operate on the protocol so viciously promote piracy of copyrighted material. They should pay for their lack of foresight.

    --
    Boot Windows, Linux, and ESX over the network for free.
  5. RIAA needs to learn English by Kelson · · Score: 5, Insightful
    the record companies contend LimeWire's operators are "actively facilitating, encouraging and enticing" computer users to steal music by failing to block access to copyright works (emphasis added)

    Based on that complaint, it sounds more like they're passively encouraging people, at best.

    Either that or the fact that I've never held up a stop sign in the middle of the street means that I'm actively encouraging people to run red lights.

  6. Lack of interest much? by Gli7ch · · Score: 5, Informative

    Remember kids, Limewire is just a Gnutella client. If they shut down Limewire, we still have a dozen more clients we can use just as well.

    Hooray for Open Source fully distributed networks!