Posted by Admin

The interesting case of RIAA v LimeWire will no doubt cause shockwaves across the filesharing industry. Not only does the RIAA appear to have won (for now, at least), but also Lime Wire’s founder Mark Gorton is being held personally responsible.If the case goes the distance the Gorton and Lime Wire will be responsible for up to $150,000 per copyright infringement. Of course the RIAA will be pushing for this full maximum.But it seems that the filesharing industry actually benefits from events like this. Take Napster: after the then giant and household name was quickly brought to books for similar ‘crimes’, the industry adapted with impressive speed. This adaption saw the birth of services like Ares which could not, it seemed, be held responsible in the same way that Napster was.From LimeWire’s ashes, then, might rise another Phoenix. Ares would be much more difficult and slippery to take to court because there is no company, no founder, no owner, and no developer. It is an open-source project that can be replicated by anyone who downloads the source code. Shutting down one branch of Ares – even if that were possible – would simply result in another three being spawned.Looks like the RIAA have a job on their hands.