LimeWire ends lawsuit with 105m settlement

LimeWire on Thursday agreed to pay $105 million as part of its lawsuit settlement in what may be the last chapter in the company's history. The payout comes a quick week after a trial to determine the amount that should be paid to music label owners such as Sony, Vivendi, and Warner. The former peer-to-peer company said only that it was glad to be rid of the lawsuit.

The lawsuit dated as far back as 2006 and accused LimeWire of aiding piracy by knowingly ignoring or taking few steps to curb sharing of bootleg songs through its software. It eventually lost the lawsuit in May 2010, but a debate persisted over how much LimeWire should owe. At their extreme, the music labels wanted as much $150,000 per song shared, which could have theoretically led to trillions in damages even if a court would never have accepted the amount.

LimeWire always maintained that it had taken steps to curb piracy and did have legitimate uses. While at least partly true, illegal copies always dominated its app. Piracy dropped dramatically as soon as LimeWire was pulled.

As a company, LimeWire ceased to exist in October after a failed attempt to set up a legitimate service.

By Electronista Staff