CNET is reporting this weekend that they have uncovered documents revealing that the music trade group RIAA wants LimeWire shut down for good.
The RIAA has requested that a Manhattan District Court give them a permanent injunction against the P2P client, effectively shutting it down in the United States.
Write the RIAA lawyers: “Every day that Lime Wire’s conduct continues unabated guarantees harm to plaintiffs that money damages cannot and will not compensate. The scope of the infringements that Lime Wire induced…boggles the mind.”
Last month, Judge Kimba Wood found the once-extremely popular file sharing service liable of copyright infringement in a 4-year-old lawsuit brought against them by the RIAA. The decision was seen as the final nail in the company’s coffin.
Kimba will now meet with LimeWire and the RIAA’s representatives, where the judge can grant the injunction and seal the service’s fate.
Responded LimeWire: “We are looking forward to an opportunity to address the Court for the first time in two years and show that as a matter of fact and law there is no support for this motion.”
Result for: trade group
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is preparing for a third trial to once again determine damages, which have so far ranged from $54,000 to $1.92 million, to be paid by Jammie Thomas-Rasset who has been accused (and found guilty) of sharing 24 songs illegally on file sharing networks. Last year, the mother of four from Minnesota was ordered to pay $1.92 million in damages for sharing the music.
Last week, Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis reduced the damages to $54,000, declaring that the $1.92 million figure was “monstrous and shocking.” The RIAA was given until Wednesday to accept the decision or to reject it, which would result in a new trial. The trade group announced it will reject the decision and go to another trial, as Thomas-Rasset turned down an opportunity to settle the case.
Attorneys for Thomas-Rasset said she would not accept a settlement offer from the RIAA, which would have her paying $25,000 to a charity for struggling artists. “Jammie is not going to agree to pay any amount of money to them,” Attorney Joe Sibley said, adding that it doesn’t matter to Thomas-Rasset whether the damages are $25,000 or $1.92 million.
“For her, it’s all the same. She just doesn’t have the money to pay any of those, and it would be financially ruinous,” Sibley said. She will continue to fight the case on principal, believing that the statutes that allow for such hefty damages in these types of cases are wrong.
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Result for: trade group
Global Gaming Factor’s CEO Hans Pandeya recently received a letter from IFPI general council Jo Oliver informing him that the trade group will be lobbying the Swedish authorities to block any money transaction between the company the Pirate Bay, and that they would push for Global Gaming to be forced to turn over information about the acquisition.
It had been speculated that the IFPI was intending to intercept the money instead of it being paid to Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg and Carl Lundstrom. A court found them guilty of copyright offenses back in April and sentenced them to one year in prison along with a $3.6 million fine.
Fredrik Neij however maintains that they have not owned the Pirate Bay since 2006, but the record labels allege that Neij himself is in control of Reservella, the company that is the listed owner of the site. The letter sent to Pandeya also gives the IFPI’s position on the Pirate Bay’s possible practices after it is sold.
“We need to warn you that if GGF takes responsibility for The Pirate Bay service in its current form, or if GGF operates The Pirate Bay in any way in violation of applicable copyright law, we will be forced to take legal action,” the letter reads. Pandeya is of the opinion that the Pirate Bay can eventually be turned into a legal service.
