LimeWire paying $105 million for thousands of pirated songs
File sharing site was shut last year
Defunct peer-to-peer service file-sharing network LimeWire has reached an out-of-court $105 million settlement with major record companies.
The settlement follows a May 2010 decision by federal district court Judge Kimba Wood to shut down LimeWire after she found both the service and Mark Gorton liable for inducing massive copyright infringement. A jury trial in New York City on the amount of damages to be paid by Mr. Gorton had begun last week.
A copyright infringement complaint was first brought against LimeWire by 13 record labels, including the four majors, in 2006.The record companies blamed the site for $1 billion in lost sales.
Founded in 2000, LimeWire was the last remaining P2P file sharing network after Kazaa, Napster and others folded under pressure from the music industry. LimeWire, however, was closed on Oct. 26 last year, following the judge's ruling.
The parties reached a settlement on May 12. The settlement includes Mr. Gorton, head of Lime Group and Lime Wire LLC, the companies behind the LimeWire site.
"We are pleased to have reached a large monetary settlement following the court's finding that both LimeWire and its founder Mark Gorton are personally liable for copyright infringement," said The Recording Industry Association of America chairman and CEO Mitch Bainwol, in a statement.
"As the court heard during the last two weeks, LimeWire wreaked enormous damage on the music community, helping contribute to thousands of lost jobs and fewer opportunities for aspiring artists."