LimeWire, one of the world's most popular peer-to-peer filesharing websites, has been shut down after a four-year legal battle with the US music industry.
A federal court in New York issued a "permanent injunction" against LimeWire late on Tuesday, ruling that the platform intentionally caused a "massive scale of infringement" by permitting the sharing of thousands of copyrighted works by its 50 million monthly users.
Founded in 2000 by Mark Gorton, a former Wall Street trader, LimeWire is now restricted from allowing the searching and sharing of copyrighted material. The website will continue "working with the music industry to move forward", a LimeWire spokeswoman confirmed.
US judge Kimba Wood ruled that record companies "have suffered – and will continue to suffer – irreparable harm from LimeWire's inducement of widespread infringement of their works", adding that the potential damages were "staggering".
The court also ruled that LimeWire should "use all reasonable technological means to immediately cease and desist" copyright infringements still taking place through applications already downloaded.
Yesterday's court order comes after a four-year legal battle between LimeWire and the Recording Industry Association of America, the representative body for many of the world's largest record labels.
In May, Wood found LimeWire liable for widespread copyright infringement. The level of damages faced by the site's New York-based parent company, Lime Group, will be decided in January 2011.
The RIAA said LimeWire has cost the music industry hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.
LimeWire shut down by federal court | Technology | guardian.co.uk
