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Legal
US judge refuses to freeze LimeWire’s assets
By CMU Editorial | Published on Monday 2 August 2010
The US record industry’s attempt to have LimeWire founder Mark Gorton’s assets frozen has failed. As previously reported, since a US judge declared LimeWire and its founder Gorton to be guilty of widespread copyright infringement, the RIAA has been busying itself applying for injunctions to have the popular file-sharing service shut down and adding up just how many billions in damages they think they deserve. Amid allegations that Gorton has been dumping the millions he’s meant to have earned through LimeWire into a hard to touch family trust, the Recording Industry Association Of America asked for his assets to be frozen.
But last week a federal judge turned down that request. According to reports, the judge said LimeWire’s accounts showed they had not moved any money around, into trusts and such like, in the recent past, and therefore he did not believe the record industry had anything to worry about in terms of the file-sharing company hiding monies that might be needed to pay damages to the labels. LimeWire welcomed the ruling, telling reporters: “This is a positive development in the case and one that certainly benefits our global user base”.
Despite this set back, most commentators seem to think that the RIAA’s application for an injunction forcing LimeWire to shut down its P2P service will be granted, and that a subsequent mega-bucks damages claim from the labels will be approved by the court. The digital company, though, insists it’s business as usual, and that it is talking to various record label types about them licensing music to the firm’s various legal services.
