Is LimeWire closing down?

**Ne007** · July 29th, 2005, 09:06 AM

p2pnet.net News- Open source p2p application LimeWire is undergoing changes which suggest owner Mark Gorton is on the verge of taking it offline, at the same time stopping sales and distribution.

LimeWire was download.com’s most popular independent Windows file-sharing application in January, and was still Number One today (July 27) with Morpheus and Warez P2P immediately behind it.

Its adherents are many and even if the commercial, non-ad application goes, obviously, the free ad-bearing version will still be available from aficianados who will, no doubt, also continue to develop it.

In June, "We hold that one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by the clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties," wrote Justice David H. Souter on behalf of the Supreme Court on its Grokster v MGM ruling.

Then, "Mark Gorton, the chief executive of the Lime Group, a brokerage firm that makes LimeWire, a file-sharing alternative to Grokster, said he was likely to stop distributing LimeWire in reaction to the ruling," said the New York Times.

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