LimeWire Counter Sues RIAA
LimeWire filed a counterclaim against the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), outlining anticompetitive practices and consumer fraud. LimeWire severely criticized the major labels, who are represented collectively by the RIAA, for limiting technological growth and monopolizing digital distribution.
Addressing the original RIAA lawsuit, LimeWire executives Mark Gorton and Greg Bildson stated that the labels had refused to license their music to LimeWire. “The Counter-Defendants have unreasonably and concertedly refused to do business with LimeWire,” the company asserted, while also noting that the RIAA was attempting to “prevent the use of decentralized peer-to-peer technology for the secure distribution of licensed, copyrighted content.”
LimeWire went on to charge the RIAA of demanding the implentation of Audible Magic’s acoustic fingerprinting technology which would significantly slow down their network. “The Counter-Defendants have concertedly promoted the distribution of licensed content through companies in which many of the Counter-Defendants and business affiliates have or had direct equity interests, such as MusicNet, pressplay and Roxio, or through business entities that they have a relationship with, such as iMesh or Mashboxx,” the counter-complaint reveals.
The Future: Nice try, but LimeWire’s distraction fails to mention that their business model benefited from copyright violations, which is at the heart of the RIAA’s claim. If true, the idea that the RIAA insisted on LimeWire using Audible Magic’s technology should raise some eyebrows, and their tight-fisted control over digital distribution could create sympathy with the right judge. LimeWire is not going down without a fight, which translates into some good action for fans in the sky boxes, as well as the bleachers.
