P2P software company LimeWire countersues recording industry body

26 September 2006 18:06 GMT / By Amber Maitland

In an unprecedented step, LimeWire’s owner has hit back at the RIAA by countersuing it for trying to control how music files are distributed.

The P2P company alleges that the recording industry’s US trade body’s objective is “to destroy any online music distribution service they did not own or control, or force such services to do business with them on exclusive and/or other anticompetitive terms so as to limit and ultimately control the distribution and pricing of digital music, all to the detriment of consumers”.

It goes on to call the RIAA’s suit part of a “modern conspiracy to destroy all innovations that content owners cannot control and that disrupts their historical business models”.

LimeWire’s developer has defended the company’s position by saying that the software will be used as much more than a music file sharing tool in the future; it will also distribute news stories, research papers, and more, all via the Gnutella P2P network.

In the suit, the LimeWire group reject the RIAA’s accusation that the software forces users to share their files on LimeWire, and that they designed the software to punish those who don’t share files with other users.

Via PC Pro

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