aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South

Thursday, August 10, 2006

OUT-LAW.COM on Limewire

Music industry has ‘strong case:’

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. [...]

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.”

Background from AP.