LimeWire Shuts Down Peer To Peer Software

A US Judge has ordered LimeWire to stop its peer to peer sharing software after it was found breaching copyright.

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The injunction was issued by Judge Kimba Wood and has ordered the Lime Group to disable the “searching, downloading, uploading, file trading and/or file distribution functionality and/or all functionality of the Legacy software, establish default settings in the Legacy software that block the sharing of unauthorised media files.”

Going to the LimeWire website, users will now see a legal notice stating: “This is an official notice that LimeWire is under a court-ordered injunction to stop distributing and supporting its file-sharing software. Downloading or sharing copyrighted content without authorization is illegal.”

A LimeWire Spokesperson said, “While this is not our ideal path, we hope to work with the music industry in moving forward. We look forward to embracing necessary changes and working with the entire music industry in the future.”

In a blog post by LimeWire’s CEO, George Searle said, “As of today, we are required to stop distribution and support of LimeWire’s P2P file-sharing service as a result of a court-ordered injunction.”

“It’s a sad occasion for our team, and for you – the hundreds of millions of people who have used LimeWire to discover new things. While we have enabled open sharing and discovery for the past decade, LimeWire is mostly the product of the people who used it. You made LimeWire. Thank you for letting us be part of that. Your support and enthusiasm has fueled everything that we do,” added Searle.

However, Searle said that the company is still open for business as “the injunction applies only to the LimeWire product.”

“Our team of technologists and music enthusiasts is creating a completely new music service that puts you back at the center of your digital music experience. We’ll be sharing more details about our new service and look forward to bringing it to you in the future,” concluded Searle.