LimeWire appear to be launching a lawsuit against the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), after the RIAA sued them, claiming that they are engaging in anti-competitive behaviour and not giving Limewire a chance to prevent illegal file sharing.
Apparently, LimeWire were planning to use a technology to detect copyrighted content by running it through ‘fingerprint’ testing (essentially, running files through a hash to see if they match or are close to copyrighted content). None of the major record labels gave permission to LimeWire to use the hashes for their content, and LimeWire are alleging that the RIAA somehow boycotted the service.
“this boycott and collusive activity was directed at and intended to injure Lime Wire because it owned and operated a service for the digital distribution of copyrighted works”
Now I don’t particularly like DRM, or the way that the RIAA and other content bodies work and operate, but LimeWire are very unlikely to win this, in my opinion. It certainly would be momentous if they did, especially considering how many file sharing services we have seen being shut down thanks to the RIAA et al.
I find it almost impossible that LimeWire will win this, but it would be an interesting turn of the tables on the associations if they did manage it.
Good luck, LimeWire.
I’ll disagree and say that yes, it’ll be tough, but I can feasibly see LimeWire winning. The RIAA wants total control over the methods that are used to deliver their media and that’s simply not legal. LimeWire was doing something (though I doubt the effectiveness of this method) to combat piracy and the RIAA STILL stopped it, showing that the true reason they’re fighting piracy is the lack of control they have over it. If they owned LimeWire (or at least destroyed them in a lawsuit) they’d effectively have control over the company’s actions which is what they really want. It’s not about the piracy, they can sustain that loss - it’s about controlling the distribution channel.
Sorry if I’m more incoherent than normal.