Score One for the Record Companies
On May 12, a US Federal Court ruled that popular peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing site, LimeWire, and its founder/chairman, Mark Gorton, were liable for copyright infringement. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) brought the suit in 2006 and was seeking damages and an injunction against the site. RIAA's chairman and CEO, Mitch Bainwol, called the ruling "extraordinary".
This ruling only goes to strengthen the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court's decision in MGM v. Grokster, which held the following:
One who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, going beyond mere distribution with knowledge of third-party action, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties using the device, regardless of the device’s lawful uses.
Meanwhile, the International Anti-Piracy Caucus, a group of lawmakers that work closely with the RIAA, released a list of the six most "notorious" file sharing web-sites.
The six sites are as follows: Baidu (China), IsoHunt (Canada), Mp3fiesta (Ukraine), RapidShare (Germany), RMX4U.com (Sweden), and the Al Capone of these BitTorrent and P2P forums...The Pirate Bay (Sweden).
These sites are now clearly the most wanted pirates sailing the digital seas. It will be interesting to see who sinks first.
