Peer to Peer file sharing site LimeWire has been ordered to permanently close following the ruling by a New York judge in favour of American record companies

The ruling is the result of a three year court battle between Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which represents the major record labels, and Lime Wire relating to infringement of copyright.  LimeWire were accused of facilitating the illegal trading of music, movies and other content. 

LimeWire was established in 2000 by ex Wall Street trader Mark Gorton and attracted up to 50 million users per month.  The US Court ruled that the service was intentionally responsible for a “massive scale of infringement”. 

“For the better part of the last decade, LimeWire and Gorton have violated the law,” said the RIAA in a statement. “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.

“In January, the court will conduct a trial to determine the appropriate level of damages necessary to compensate the record companies for the billions and billions of illegal downloads that occurred through the LimeWire system.”