NEW YORK—Popular file-sharing website LimeWire has been ordered to permanently shut down six months after a federal judge found it liable for copyright infringement on a "massive scale."
In an order Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood in Manhattan entered a permanent injunction, ordering the service to disable the searching, downloading, uploading or file trading of its software and to block the sharing of unauthorized music files.
The lawsuit was brought in 2006 on behalf of the major record labels by the Recording Industry Association of America.
In May, the judge found that LimeWire had violated copyright laws and induced users to infringe on copyrights. She also found Mark Gorton, LimeWire's founder, personally liable.
"Plaintiffs have suffered—and will continue to suffer—irreparable harm from LimeWire's inducement of widespread infringement of their wires," the judge wrote in her order.
In a statement Tuesday, the RIAA said the court will conduct a trial in January to determine damages.
"For the better part of the last decade, LimeWire and Gorton have violated the law," the RIAA said. "The court has now signed an injunction that will start to unwind the massive piracy machine that LimeWire and Gorton used to enrich themselves immensely."
On its website, LimeWire posted a notice that said it was under court order to stop distributing and supporting its software. "Downloading or sharing copyrighted content without authorization is illegal," the notice said.
On its corporate parent's Web site, LimeWire Chief Executive George Searle said the company was "disappointed" with the turn of the events and notes the injunction only applies to the LimeWire.
"We are extremely proud of our pioneering history and have, for years, worked hard to bridge the gap between technology and content rights holders," Mr. Searle said in the statement. "However, at th
By CHAD BRAY
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