limewire is now history

First Napster, then Kazaa and more recently The Pirate Bay are some of the companies that have been bombarded by lawsuits for enabling users to swap copyrighted content. Some of them bit the dust (Napster and Kazaa) and now exist as paid subscription services for music. This time around, LimeWire faces the same charges, as a U.S District judge has ordered it be permanently shut down. LimeWire's official website also throws the same message right in the reader's face - http://www.limewire.com/. The lawsuit was brought upon in 2006 by the RIAA or the Recording Industry Association of America. In January 2011, the court will declare the charges the owners of LimeWire will have to bear to the RIAA.

Limewire was one of the better known P2P networks. One of its USPs was the cross-platform working between Windows, Linux and Mac. They had a free LimeWire Basic and a paid "Pro" version which offered faster downloads and better search results. LimeWire's chief executive Georgle Sealle was disappointed that this ban was applicable to LimeWire only; possibly hinting that it did not affect its competitors as well.