RIAA Victory Over LimeWire – The Implications
I actually thought the best article on the subject was over at Ars, but below are a few other synopsis.
Via The Daily Swarm:
CNET:
The court decision could represent the biggest threat to online file sharing in years. According to a survey by the NPD Group, LimeWire users account for 58 percent of the people who said they downloaded music from a peer-to-peer service last year. AtCNET‘s Download.com, the LimeWire software has been downloaded more than 200 million times. In the last week alone, the software was downloaded nearly 340,000 times….Wood’s ruling could at the very least mean a shift in the downloading habits of millions.
A big victory for Big Music: A federal court has ruled in favor of the music labels in their fight against LimeWire, one of the most prominent file-sharing services on the Web….What does this mean for the music industry? Assuming Wood’s ruling stands, this one will definitely feel good for the labels, and it would have been a very big deal had they lost. But it certainly won’t help them in fighting less formally organized P2P services or those set up outside the U.S.
As you can see from the ruling, LimeWire never really had a chance….Of course that doesn’t mean this isn’t troubling in many ways. In fact, it reiterates many of the problems with the original Grokster ruling. For example, it mentions things like the fact that LimeWire folks knew that LimeWire could be used to transfer copyrighted works. But that’s meaningless. Email can be used for transferring copyrighted works.FTP too. The web as well.
Either way, I’m still wondering if…it’s possible to create a system for more efficiently sharing files that doesn’t violate the inducement standard…The law should not be set up in a way to outright ban a technology that has a wide variety of useful applications, and is used for plenty of legitimate purposes, even if it’s also used (even if regularly used) for infringing purposes.
RIAA CEO Mitch Bainwol’s Statement/Victory Lap:
Tweet“This definitive ruling is an extraordinary victory for the entire creative community. The court made clear that LimeWire was liable for inducing widespread copyright theft….“LimeWire is one of the largest remaining commercial peer-to-peer services. Unlike other P2P services that negotiated licenses, imposed filters or otherwise chose to discontinue their illegal conduct following the Supreme Court’s decision in the Grokster case, LimeWire instead thumbed its nose at the law and creators. The court’s decision is an important milestone in the creative community’s fight to reclaim the Internet as a platform for legitimate commerce. By finding LimeWire’s CEOpersonally liable, in addition to his company, the court has sent a clear signal to those who think they can devise and profit from a piracy scheme that will escape accountability….We are gratified by the court’s careful and thorough analysis of the facts and applicable law.”
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