gorton's

Music industry zeros in again on LimeWire

LimeWire is far from finished with compensating the music industry for years of inducing copyright infringement, according to legal claims made last week by a group of independent record companies.

Merlin, a trade group that represents more than 12,000 indie labels and such artists as Arcade Fire, Neko Case, and Carla Bruni, has claimed in a lawsuit that Lime Wire, the company that created the now defunct LimeWire peer-to-peer network, broke a promise made in 2008 to compensate them for the millions of music tracks that LimeWire users pirated via the site.

According to legal documents filed last week with a New York federal court, Lime Wire and founder Mark Gorton agreed to pay Merlin members an amount that was in line with whatever Lime Wire ended up paying to settle with the four major music labels. In 2007, Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and EMI Music accused the company of cashing in on a service designed to help people pirate music.

Last year, a federal judge agreed with the labels. She ruled that Lime Wire and Gorton were liable for copyright infringement and ordered the LimeWire network shut down. Two months ago, Gorton agreed to pay the majors $105 million to settle. Previously, Gorton paid the trade group representing music publishers a sum that topped $12 million, according to music industry sources. And there are other music-industry entities that could possibly press claims against Lime Wire that are still unheard from, such as the American Association of Independent Music. … Read more

Lime Wire settles with RIAA for $105 million

Having facilitated the mass piracy of billions of songs over a 10-year period, Lime Wire founder Mark Gorton and his file-sharing company have agreed to compensate the four largest record labels by paying them $105 million.

As first reported by CNET, Gorton's lawyers closed in on a settlement agreement today after meeting this morning to hammer out a deal.

"We are pleased to have reached a large monetary settlement following the court's finding that both Lime Wire and its founder Mark Gorton are personally liable for copyright infringement," said Mitch Bainwol, chairman of the Recording Industry … Read more

In Lime Wire trial, sounds of discord (roundup)

A year after a judge found Mark Gorton liable, a jury is now deciding how much the founder of Lime Wire must pay in damages for willful copyright infringement.

Lime Wire settles with RIAA for $105 million Mark Gorton, creator of the LimeWire file-sharing system, agrees to compensate the four largest record labels for facilitating the mass piracy of billions of songs over 10 years. (Posted in Media Maverick by Greg Sandoval) May 12, 2011 3:51PM PDT

RIAA, Lime Wire close to settling copyright suit Lime Wire, the file-sharing service found liable for copyright infringement last year, could pay … Read more

RIAA, Lime Wire close to settling copyright suit

Lime Wire, the company that helped people obtain perhaps billions of songs illegally, is close to forking over a "significant" amount of money to settle a copyright suit filed against it by the Recording Industry Association of America, sources close to the discussions told CNET.

The two sides were still negotiating this morning, but a deal could be finalized as soon as today, the sources said. They didn't specify the exact settlement figure and cautioned that the talks could still break down.

Should a deal be finalized, it would put an end to a 5-year-old copyright case and close the book on Lime Wire, the company behind the peer-to-peer system of the same name that the big four record companies alleged cost them billions of dollars and thousands of employees their jobs.

After a U.S. District Judge found Lime Wire and founder Mark Gorton personally liable for copyright infringement and ordered the company to cease operations, the case then moved to assessing damages. Over the past two weeks, a jury in Manhattan was hearing evidence in the case as they determined what amount Lime Wire and Gorton would have to pay. If they found he deserved to pay the maximum under the law, Gorton could be required to pay as much as $1.4 billion.

Ethan Smith at The Wall Street Journal reported that the sides have held three settlement meetings without securing a deal. The talks began in earnest yesterday, said the sources who spoke with CNET.

Gorton was in a precarious legal position.The jury tasked with assessing damages was often reminded by Glenn Pomerantz, the RIAA's lead attorney, that Gorton had already been found liable of willful copyright infringement by U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood. … Read more

Lime Wire: Labels hurt by mismanagement, not piracy

NEW YORK--Edgar Bronfman Jr., CEO of Warner Music Group and heir to a huge beverage fortune, received more than $17 million in total compensation for the year 2008, even as he and his managers were laying off hundreds of employees and claiming that online piracy was to blame for much of the music industry's financial woes.

This was one of the facts that a jury was shown in federal court here today, as lawyers for Mark Gorton, the man behind the LimeWire file-sharing system, attempted to show that the file-sharing service he founded was not solely to blame for declining music sales and the industry's shrinking number of jobs. Joseph Baio, Gorton's lawyer, tried to influence the jury by painting a picture of record labels led by fat cat executives who in some cases paid themselves huge sums and were too slow to react to major technological shifts in their industry. Some of the trouble, Baio suggested, was caused by the record companies' own poor stewardship.

As a result of a lawsuit filed by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2006, U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood found Gorton and Lime Wire, the company behind the popular file-sharing service of the same name, liable last year for willful copyright infringement. A jury is now deciding how much Gorton will pay in damages. The amount could be as high as $1.4 billion.

In an attempt to convince the jury that Gorton deserves to pay a huge financial penalty, RIAA lawyers have tried to prove that Gorton and his service--which was used to obtain songs without paying for them--cost the music industry billions in revenues as well as thousands of jobs. … Read more

Lime Wire founder on copyright law: 'I was wrong'

NEW YORK--Lawyers representing the four largest music labels tried to convey a message in court here today: Lime Wire founder Mark Gorton was so determined to help people pirate songs that he disregarded copyright law, artists' rights, and even the Supreme Court.

And eventually, Gorton conceded.

The best that he could offer for an excuse was that he misread the law. "I was wrong," Gorton told the court. "I didn't think our behavior was inducing [copyright infringement]. I understand that a court has found otherwise."

In numerous exchanges with Glenn Pomerantz, the labels' lead attorney, … Read more

Lime Wire's day of reckoning is here

Mark Gorton and Lime Wire pocketed millions by enabling people to obtain songs online without paying for them. Now, Gorton and his company could end up paying damages of over $1 billion.

In a New York federal court this week, the four largest record companies will try to prove that it was Gorton's own greed that drove him to continue operating Lime Wire, the company behind the highly popular file-sharing service LimeWire, though they warned him years ago to stop and fellow peer-to-peer operators advised him to cut a deal. Gorton continued to defy the top labels even after … Read more

Lime Wire settles copyright suit with publishers

Lime Wire has settled a copyright lawsuit brought against it by several music publishers.

Yesterday's settlement puts to rest the copyright infringement suit filed in June against Lime Wire by more than 30 different music publishers, including the publishing arms of EMI Group, Sony, and Vivendi SA.

The former file-sharing site and its founder Mark Gorton were sued last year by a bevy of music publishers and record companies over charges that the LimeWire service enabled its users to illegally download copyrighted songs. That suit followed a previous court ruling in a case involving the Recording Industry Association of … Read more

Did Lime Wire betray users?

NEW YORK--Last summer, Lime Wire began installing a secret upgrade to its software that enabled the company to shut down the peer-to-peer network whenever it wanted, music industry sources have confirmed.

The revelation was first reported Tuesday by PC Mag. According to the Web tech publication, reporters there were tipped off by a source on Monday night.

"LimeWire added the ability to send out messages to clients updating them with the location of their local peers via start-up scripts," PC Mag wrote, citing the anonymous source. "It will be these start-up scripts that will be disabled...largely … Read more