Despite that Reuters report last week that implied P2P company eDonkey might be closing down, the software firm's website remains live and insiders say the company is operating as normal. The Reuters report followed the sending of 'cease and desist' letters to seven P2P companies by the Recording Industry Association Of America. As previously reported, those letters followed the landmark MGM v Grokster ruling in the US Supreme Court in which judges said software firms who make P2P systems could, in certain cases, be held liable for the copyright infringement their technology enables. The RIAA letters cited that ruling and threatened legal action against the seven P2P firms unless they stop distributing their software.
The website of one of the companies targeted, Frontcode Technologies' WinMX, has gone down since the letters were sent out and, while no official reason for the closing of the site has been given, it is assumed the closure was in response to the letter. Reports that eDonkey was making similar moves seem to have begun when reporters found the New York offices of the P2P's owner MetaMachine closed, with CEO Sam Yagan unreachable. However subsequent investigations suggest that MetaMachine haven't worked out of their New York office since last year, and that Yagan is still operating out of his new offices in New Jersey. Certainly the eDonkey website is still live.