The software, estimated by Lime Wire LLC, the company behind it,
to reside on 1.5% of PCs worldwide, allows users to connect to the
Gnutella file-sharing network. It claims to be "the fastest P2P
file-sharing program on the planet." Users can search for files on
the computers of other users connected to the network. At the time
of writing, more than two million PCs were connected.
The suit filed at a New York district court seeks compensatory
and punitive damages, accusing LimeWire of being "devoted
essentially to the Internet piracy of plaintiffs' sound
recordings," according to reports.
The US industry body RIAA made clear that it would pursue P2P
companies after a Supreme Court win for the music industry in 2005
against Grokster and StreamCast Networks, distributor of Morpheus
which, like LimeWire, connects to the Gnutella network. The
companies were found liable for copyright infringements by users of
their peer-to-peer software, because they had intended the software
to be used for that purpose.
The RIAA sent cease-and-desist letters to seven P2P companies
last September, warning them to stop enabling and inducing the
infringement of its members' music. Lime Wire LLC was believed to
be among the recipients.
A spokesman for the RIAA said today: "Despite numerous efforts
to engage Limewire, the site's corporate owners have shown
insufficient interest in developing a legal business model that
adequately respects copyrights. While other services have
come productively to the table, Limewire has sat back and continued
to reap profits on the backs of the music community."
The RIAA said added that it has "patient" as a number of former
pirate networks – WinMX, Bearshare, Grokster, i2hub, Kazaa – have
ultimately decided to close down or transition into legal music
services.
The company behind Kazaa, once the internet's most popular P2P
application, agreed to settle a lawsuit and pay the record industry
$115 million last month. It also agreed to introduce filtering in
its network to block the trade of copyright-protected music.
Struan Robertson, editor of OUT-LAW.COM and a technology lawyer
with Pinsent Masons, said Lime Wire LLC may struggle to defend the
case.
"This is a US company being sued in the US where a precedent has
been set by the Supreme Court. That makes it an easier win for the
music industry than some of its other download disputes."
"On the face of it, the industry has a strong case. In the
Grokster case, the Supreme Court set a test for the degree of
intent necessary to find the distributor of software liable for the
actions of its users," he said. "They need to show purposeful,
culpable expression and conduct to be liable for inducing copyright
infringement. The court said this can be done by a website sending
a message that stimulates others to commit violations."
Contrasting the case with a 1980s dispute over the Betamax VCR,
the court in Grokster found evidence that the P2P companies "acted
with a purpose to cause copyright violations by use of software
suitable for illegal use."
Other key features of the Grokster ruling were the absence of
filtering tools or mechanisms to diminish the infringing activity
using their software; and that StreamCast and Grokster made money
by selling advertising space, directing ads to the screens of
computers that use their software.
The opinion noted: "the commercial sense of their enterprise
turns on high-volume use, which the record shows is
infringing."
