LimeWire, which remained one of the last standing P2P programs out there after Napster and KaZaA have dropped that option and went legit, was dealt a large blow yesterday as a RIAA-brought lawsuit brought judgement. LimeWire was issued an injunction to remove “the searching, downloading, uploading, file trading and/or file distribution functionality, and/or all functionality” of the popular P2P software.
The injunction ruled (page 3) that LimeWire “intentionally encouraged direct infringement” of copyright and was aware of it, the software is used “overwhelmingly for infringement” and “allows for infringement on a massive scale”, marketed itself to Napster users, known copyright infringers, assisted infringing users in infringing efforts, and failed to implement technology to prevent infringement. You can read the 17-page, hard-to-read injunction from LimeWire’s site (PDF).
If you currently visit LimeWire.com, you’ll see a “Legal Notice” stating:
This is an official notice that LimeWire is under a court-ordered injunction to stop distributing and supporting its file-sharing software. Downloading or sharing copyrighted content without authorization is illegal.
It also includes a link to LimeWire’s customer support.
While the news of LimeWire’s inevitable demise spreads across the InterWeb, it seems a successor has already been found. Briefly this morning, FrostWire made an appearance as a Google Hot Trend. A similar P2P program, FrostWire uses BitTorrent and Gnutella while promising to be the fastest. It also offers an Android app, which just came out of beta yesterday, that is free through their website but costs $5 through the Android Market to support the developers. FrostWire encourages legal downloads through its sister site FrostClick.
Not that I was a user of LimeWire, but obligatory “F*** the RIAA!”