RIAA VS LimeWire

Friday, the RIAA sued LimeWire for copyright infringement. The “Fastest File Sharing Program on the Planet,” LimeWire had been in discussion to install filters into their system, however their progress does not seem to have met the RIAA’s expectations.

LimeWire was started in 2000, and there have been over 20 million downloads of the program. It has been very popular for file downloading due to its speed and lack of viruses. While this is being written over 2 million users are currently hosting music for the sharing program.

While this may seem like a large case of copyright infringement, it must be remembered that Peer to Peer (P2P) networks like LimeWire or Kazaa are also excellent means to distribute independent music as well as free information. While not everything shared on these networks is legal, the fact that there are over 2 million hosts right now for one program shows how the this market has changed.

The RIAA is asking $150,000 in compensation for every song distributed without permission. Last week, Kazaa agreed to pay the RIAA $115 million and to implement filters in their software. The RIAA has also successfully dealt with Grokster, WinMx, and BearShare.