LimeWire fails in legal attack on record labels

 

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By Simon Aughton

Posted on 4 Dec 2007 at 12:45

A US judge has dismissed an antitrust lawsuit brought by the maker of LimeWire against the Recording Industry Association of America.

Lime Group alleged that RIAA members - the major record companies - had refused to do a deal that would have legitimised the use of the LimeWire p2p application to share music files over the internet.

Lime Group complained that the record companies were happy to do business with firms in which they had a stake, but wanted to "destroy any online music distribution service they did not own or control, or force such services to do business with them on exclusive and/or other anticompetitive terms".

But New York district judge Gerard E Lynch ruled that Lime Group's claims "fail to allege an adverse effect on competition market-wide". He said there was no evidence that the record companies had colluded to prevent a deal with Lime Group.

Judge Lynch also rejected Lime Group claims that that the record labels had engaged in unfair business practices, including hacking the firm's file-sharing network and claiming it promotes child pornography. Neither action, even if perpetrated, breach laws on fair competition.

Neither the RIAA or Lime Wire has commented on the ruling.

Lime Group filed its lawsuit after a group of labels owned by the big four record companies (Universal Music, Sony BMG, EMI and Warner Music) sued for damages of $150,000 for every song shared using the LimeWire software. The case is ongoing.

The US Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that companies that provide p2p software can be held liable for the unauthorised sharing of copyright material.