[Ecommerce] LimeWire slams RIAA members' 'illegal online cartel'

[Michelle Childs]

<snip>

A much more interesting line of defence is LimeWire's attack against the
music industry. It says the case is =93part of a much larger conspiracy to
destroy all innovation that content owners cannot control and that
disrupts their historical business models=94. The RIAA and its members are
using the law for anti-competitive means, not to control piracy, LimeWire
charges


http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/26/limewire_riaa_counterclaim/

Counterblast in counterclaim
By Drew Cullen in San Francisco
Published Tuesday 26th September 2006 22:23


LimeWire LLC has returned fire in its copyright dispute with Recording
Industry Ass. Of America (RIAA), accusing its members of operating an
illegal cartel to control the online distribution of music.

In a recent lawsuit, The RIAA attacked LimeWire and its top developers for
facilitating copyright theft, through its peer-to-peer (P2P) file swapping
service.

 In today's countersuit, Limewire denies the charges, noting that it is
merely the developer of an open source software. Limewire notes that it
is a true P2P service - there are no central servers to facilitate file
exchange. As such, people who download LimeWire swap files entirely of
their "own volition", it claims. Hmm. We can=92t see a US court buying this
argument.

A much more interesting line of defence is LimeWire's attack against the
music industry. It says the case is =93part of a much larger conspiracy to
destroy all innovation that content owners cannot control and that
disrupts their historical business models=94. The RIAA and its members are
using the law for anti-competitive means, not to control piracy, LimeWire
charges.

Online music distribution, is it notes, a disruptive business model for
the music majors, which are "using the exclusivity rights inherent in
their copyrights - that they deployed with a vengeance, by unlawfully
extending and pooling those] to cartelize the network for the online
distribution of music... They also pooled their huge monetary resources to
combat and eventually defeat many of their online competitors."

LimeWire=92s counter-claim is here. =AE
http://www.ilrweb.com/viewILRPDF.asp?filename=3Darista_limewire_060925answe=
rcounterclaim


--
Michelle Childs -Head of European Affairs
Consumer Project on Technology in London
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Mob:+44(0)790 386 4642. Fax: +44(0)207 354 0607
http://www.cptech.org

Consumer Project on Technology in Washington, DC
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