First Thread Discussion: Peer to peer (P2P) sharing allows users to access media files such as books, music, movies and even games for free. P2Psounds harmless enough but the Recording Association of...

First Thread Discussion:

Peer to peer (P2P) sharing allows users to access media files such as books, music, movies and even games for free. P2Psounds harmless enough but the Recording Association of America (RIAA) does not agree. In the early 2000’s they were many peer to peer websites like Nabster and LimeWire. Napster was shut down in 2001 because of a lawsuit. In 2006, RIAA brought a law suit against LimeWire they stated that “as much as 93 percent of LimeWire’s file sharing traffic was unauthorized copyright material.” They were there to figure out if LimeWire, through its P2P file sharing software, committed copyright infringement, engaged in unfair competition and induced copyright infringement. A copyright infringement is explained as when “copyrighted work is reproduced, distributed, performed, publicly displayed, or made into a derivative work without the permission of the copyright owner.” The matter went on for a few years and On May 3, 2011 the case went to a jury for a decision on damages, with individual baselines ranging from $750 to $150,000 for each work that was infringed. On May 11, 2010, U.S. District Judge Wood, finally ruled in favor of the music industry's claims against founder Mark Gorton of the Lime group. On May 18th, 2011, LimeWire settled with the major labels for $105 million. While there are many legitimate uses for P2P file sharing, I am in favor of the court’s ruling as LimeWire was guilty of what they were being accused of. It is not fair that people are allowed to benefit for free what others have word hard and spent money to produce.

Second Thread Discussion:

As many know, LimeWire was a free peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing program founded by Mark Gorton. With this many users, they also caught the eyes of many big music companies, and in 2006, the RIAA brought a lawsuit against the company for providing music consumers means for attaining music without any cost. The file sharing application was found liable for copyright infringement of America’s four major labels- Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group, and EMI. In the suit, Mark Gorton is considered liable for copyright infringement and responsible for paying financial damages up to $150,000 per song although the labels had sought a maximum penalty of $1.4 billion. LimeWire's owners denied they were responsible for the legality of files shared by their users. LimeWire claimed that their program was not illegal due to the fact that it was not the host of any shared files. The judge, Kimba Woods, was not convinced by the argument saying Limewire changed their features to enabled their users to download copyrighted digital recordings. They are accused of breaking copyright infringement. The court has not yet determined the issue of monetary damages, though the RIAA has claimed they are owed up to $150,000 for every infringing work. LimeWire, which said that it “strongly opposes” the ruling, indicated that it intended to stay in business. I agree with the ruling because limewire is liable for copyright infringement. LimeWire profits from file sharing and think they should not be held accountable.