Limewire

ArsTechnica are reporting that Limewire has been issued with an injunction forcing it to no longer provide file sharing software or support. This comes after a ruling earlier in the year in which the courts held that Limewire induced copyright infringement. A visit to the network shows a notice which states:

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.

I have a very old version of Limewire but when I logged in I couldn't connect to the network. I guess this means Frostwire will be the next port of call for those wishing to share - this is an open-source file sharing network which has not been subjected to any litigation to date. And of course the popularity of BitTorrent will mean that most people can still get what they want. Its a shame to see it go really though - what a waste of a perfectly good business.

Further Reading
ArsTechnica, Sour ruling for LimeWire as court says to turn off P2P functionality (26 October 2010) < http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/10/sour-ruling-for-limewire-as-court-says-to-turn-off-p2p-functionality.ars > at 27 October 2010