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LimeWire Likely To Shut Down Soon

Posted by kdawson on from the and-then-there-was-one-fewer dept.

suraj.sun quotes from a CNET story: "A federal court judge has likely dealt a death blow to LimeWire, one of the most popular and oldest file-sharing systems, according to legal experts. On Wednesday ... US District Judge Kimba Wood granted summary judgment in favor of the ... [RIAA], which filed a copyright lawsuit against LimeWire in 2006. In her decision, Wood ruled Lime Group, parent of LimeWire software maker Lime Wire, and founder Mark Gorton committed copyright infringement, induced copyright infringement, and engaged in unfair competition. 'It is obviously a fairly fatal decision for them,' said [an industry defense lawyer]. 'If they don't shut down, the other side will likely make a request for an injunction and there's nothing left but to go on to calculating damages.'" The article notes that LimeWire is used by nearly 60% of the people who download songs.

11 of 264 comments (clear)

  1. And nothing of value was lost by Prien715 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And nothing of value was lost. Seriously, who uses an inefficient cruddy program like Limewire when you've got bit torrent?

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    -- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
    1. Re:And nothing of value was lost by nomadic · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Seriously, who uses an inefficient cruddy program like Limewire when you've got bit torrent?

      Or itunes, or Amazon's MP3 store. Oops, wait, I forgot I shouldn't admit I actually feel a moral obligation to actually pay for the music I buy on slashdot.

    2. Re:And nothing of value was lost by Endo13 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      BitTorrent just seems like a waste of energy for music...but I don't really know why. I suppose it works as well for small files as large... it just feels like more work to search for something so small in the browser, open it in a new app, clutter uTorrent with a thousand tiny downloads...

      BitTorrent's role in music sharing is mainly for albums and artist collections. You know, like say if you wanted the complete works of the Beatles. When your typical MP3 player has room for tens of thousands of tracks, you're a lot more likely to look for those large collections to save time, if for no other reason. Got the space, may as well fill it up.

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    3. Re:And nothing of value was lost by Doctor_Jest · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Sometimes its just nice to save a step between the LP you still have and your MP3 player. Now I know the studios want you to "buy it again", but I prefer either recording it myself via a USB turntable, or if I've no time for that, the disc is available via torrent.

      I don't feel it's infringing on copyright, since I own the album. (And that is also true for out-of-print CDs and LPs as well.) I mean, I could track them down used, but that doesn't "give money to the artist".... So their argument is moot. That said, I'm not a "collector" of music in that I get discogs of every band and scour the web for bootlegs. I like the album enough to buy it, and I like the album enough to want it on my iPod... shouldn't be too difficult. (I know we're treading on "legal gray areas", but sometimes we just have to use a little common sense...Something the RIAA hasn't had, well, ever.)

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    4. Re:And nothing of value was lost by mcclungsr · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I buy music on Amazon, and once iTunes offered DRM-free tracks that became an option as well (since I mostly listen on linux boxes). I don't think of this as a moral issue, it's a convenience. The bitrates are good, and less work even than torrents. For $1/song, the money really doesn't seem like a big issue. I still buy CDs that I rip myself from time to time, but more and more I'm just using the online stores.

      I call it being practical.

    5. Re:And nothing of value was lost by kdemetter · · Score: 3, Insightful

      From other clients that use the gnutella network ?

      Really , limewire just uses the gnutella network . It's like banning edonkey2000 , which uses the edonkey network.
        Unless they ban the entire network , but that's not likely to happen , as it's a decentralized network.

      So , in other words , it sucks for limewire , but someone else will take over when they fall.

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  2. Alternative Limewire network coming online... by Aranykai · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...in 3, 2, 1

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    If sharing a song makes you a pirate, what do I have to share to be a ninja?
    1. Re:Alternative Limewire network coming online... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Its like the legal profession is completely naive of how software on the Internet works.

      Or they know exactly how it works and the lawyers like making gobs of cash playing whack-a-mole?

  3. Corporate Veil by phantomcircuit · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yeah but will they be able to pierce the corporate veil and hold the CEO personally accountable? Otherwise his company becomes worthless and he keeps all the money that he's been paid in salary.

  4. Excellent by RichardJenkins · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The sooner we get these people off Limewire and onto Bittorrent, the sooner I can stop having to clean trojans off my friends PCs every few weeks.

  5. Re:Good by Shados · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This. seriously.

    Its true with most things: When people dodge the law, wether directly or by loopholes, there's no incensive to get the law changed, and things stay in an annoying gray area, and thats not good for anyone. Deal with the law, see how much it sucks, THEN there's a chance things will change.