LimeWire Ordered to Shut Down

By Richard Gibson
Oct 27 2010

LimeWire, the popular file sharing service on the web has been officially ordered to close after a suit was filed in open court.

A US district court judge declared that the site and its software violated US and international copyright laws and could not legally continue with the file sharing service.

LimeWire has been fighting these charges for the past five years. However, recently the RIAA threw their hat into the ring and with their significant muscle they were able to push the court into filing the injunction.

On the LimeWire website users are greeted with a legal warning that tells them that the site will no longer support the software that allowed for anyone to upload or download files across the internet.

However, LimeWire has said that the other parts of their business will remain open. The company owns and operates Lime Exchange, a freelance job site, as well as several other web properties.

LimeWire also announced that they would begin working on a software system that would stay within the copyright laws to once again launch a file sharing service that would help them avoid any further legal trouble.

The RIAA has been rallying against many websites that allow users to trade copyrighted material, including music and movies. They have won several of the battles but some of the overseas companies have managed to slide in under the radar. Most often it is impossible to prosecute anyone from overseas for copyright violations over the internet.