A landmark ruling by U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood, for the Southern District of NY, could see filesharing service LimeWire being sued for millions of dollars. The decision was made against the service’s founder Mark Gorton, and claimed that he “committed copyright infringement, engaged in unfair competition, and induced copyright infringement. The RIAA are claiming the maximum damages for the copyright infringement: $150,000 per work. Of course there are millions of downloads taking place every day on filesharing services, so the final bill could well run into the millions.
This may be a move that puts the whole filesharing industry into turmoil. Other services like Ares may be adversely affected by the ruling, and it may be that such services make quick moves to distance themselves from what may be now potentially illegal activity. Will the courts – and the RIAA – go after other services like Ares, or will they be satisfied with the possibly fatal blow they have struck here?
It is interesting that RIAA have now made a breakthrough against what they see as the source of the problem. For so many years they went after the users and got nowhere. They’ve changed tack and have made that long awaited move against one of the industry’s major players.