Irony: LimeWire Complaining About 'Unauthorized' Versions Of LimeWire

from the seriously? dept

Thu, Nov 11th 2010 12:36pm — Mike Masnick

We were just discussing how some anonymous developers had created and released a "pirate edition" of LimeWire, after the company LimeWire was required to no longer offer its software. Now LimeWire has put out an announcement demanding those who put out such an "unauthorized version" cease & desist. It does seem rather ironic that a company whose software was regularly used to access unauthorized works is now "complaining" about unauthorized versions of its own work. Of course, it's likely that the company is well aware of this, but has put out this announcement so that it doesn't get blamed in court for this unauthorized version.

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Filed Under: limewire, unauthorized
Companies: limewire

17 Comments

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fogbugzd (profile), 11 Nov 2010 @ 12:50pm

CYA?
It may be that Limewire feels a need to protest in order to distance themselves from the PE version and prevent charges that they have circumvented their agreements with the RIAA and the court order.

There is also the trademark issue to consider. Granting the folks that put out the PE edition a license to use the Limewire name would probably put them in violation of the court order.
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Ty, 11 Nov 2010 @ 1:01pm

I don't think they actually care... they are just trying to limit any damages they might suffer legally in the future if they don't.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Nov 2010 @ 1:06pm

It's GPL ... they know that, what the hell?
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The Groove Tiger (profile), 11 Nov 2010 @ 1:29pm

Um... Open Source.

Anyone can fork it, as long as they follow whatever license (GPL, means, the fork's source must be open too, and other stuff).

You can't Un-GPL something once everyone has had a chance to download the source and make their forks. You can only make the NEXT version closed and let everyone keep developing on the old code (which could end up being more sophisticated than the closed code if the community is active enough).
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Rich, 11 Nov 2010 @ 1:37pm

I think it more likely they want to make it clear that they have nothing to do with these new versions.
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haha hehe hoho, 11 Nov 2010 @ 1:45pm

NEW Version ( LAMERWIRE )
all virus's all the time
installs malware
reports to the mpaa, riaa cia , fbi , and space alien overlords....

ALSO any credit cards you use are sent to 50 hackers to spend away , its almost christmas after all..."think of the hackers"......
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Nov 2010 @ 2:05pm

Re: NEW Version ( LAMERWIRE )
What you are saying is incorrect. Limewire does NOT install any malware.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Nov 2010 @ 2:42pm

disucssing, lol
disucssing? what's that
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Jon B., 11 Nov 2010 @ 3:34pm

I honestly haven't followed Limewire in forever. I've use Frostwire plenty, but no Limewire. What's the story with Frostwire? Still up an running? Network active?
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Memyself, 11 Nov 2010 @ 3:47pm

I'm reminded of the many times I see Rapidshare uploaders complain when someone re-uploads their files - thus taking potential download credits away. In short - these pirates tend to throw fits about others "stealing" from them.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Nov 2010 @ 4:07pm

Re:
That's what happens when you try and pretend a monopoly is the same as normal property, everyone else involved starts off with their confused nonsense about what is and isn't theft.
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BruceLD, 11 Nov 2010 @ 5:00pm

Subject
I'm perplexed. I know what everyone is saying that the "official" Limewire people are simply trying to make a public statement that they have nothing to do with this PE version but...

I absolutely hated Limewire from the very beginning. Whenever I'd go to a friends place and discover it on their computers, I would quickly uninstall it and teach them how to use "free" sharing software. I would occasionally come across someone that paid the Limewire "fee" and I would try to explain how they got duped only to fall on deaf ears.

They think "oh well I paid the Limewire fee for unrestricted/unlimited downloads" and they then thought that it was perfectly legal for them to download all the copyrighted and unauthorized audio and video files that they wanted. I just laughed when I tried to explain their stupidity to them, but nothing I could do or say could ever convince them otherwise, after all they paid the fee to Limewire and they offered unrestricted/unlimited downloads right? They were completely ignorant, BUT wasn't this the entire business model of Limewire--that ignorant people would fork over whatever fee under the mistaken impression that copyright infringement is perfectly legal for them even though it isn't? How much did Limewire profit from the ignorance of those who paid for Limewire? Something tells me that Limewire profited mega millions of dollars.

And of course now they are being hypocrites and sending off the "c&d" letters after they themselves had ignored the c&d of many media corporations for so long.

Don't get me wrong, I CAN NOT stand the big media corporations and I am extremely resentful in how they victimize grandparents, school children, dead people, low/fixed income families, single parents, etc...but if you're going to parade around and profit from ignorant people and claim the right to freedom and sharing for everyone--you better not change your tune and act exactly like those that you were once again.

The word here is "hypocrite".
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Mike Masnick (profile), 11 Nov 2010 @ 5:15pm

Re: disucssing, lol
disucssing? what's that

A typo, I believe.
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Ryan Diederich, 11 Nov 2010 @ 9:52pm

Frostwire Still Works
I went to Frostwire when Limewire went down. It worked well, but not as well as Limewire did.

Once I saw that Limewire Pirate Edition was release, I went right to it. I chuckled at the pirate humor throughout.

I laughed even harder when downloads in progress from the original Limewire appeared in the new version. Haha

It works great, I will continue using it. Good work RIAA, you prevented me from using limewire for 3 days.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Nov 2010 @ 10:25pm

Technically, LimeWire was not infringing on copywrite, Its users were. LimeWire was supposed to be to shair your files that you own, Kind of like a YouTube file shairing. Its users were the ones who decided to share the illegal software and MP3s... So its perfectly legit that they cry fowl. ( However MP3 rocket was technically limewire).. Just like the "open Source" projects out there are mainly copies of legit programs, the developers or thieves of the opensource, knew they couldnt legally sell the software because they would be sued out of business, so they gave it away and called it opensource. The thing of it is, 99.99999% of everything online is copied from something someone else wrote. Even this webpage, the HTML, XHTML, even the color codes. All written by someone somewhere already in history, did the writer have permission to copy it or use the script in the same mannor as the first guy who did it? Probably not... Just imagine if everything someone made was subject to copywrite.... OMG what a mess.. The truth is Music is going to go back to its roots, back when people played their music for enjoyment, and because they had a real story to tell, and not to make billions and a career.
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Hephaestus (profile), 12 Nov 2010 @ 2:33am

Re:
The really funny thing is, the original limewire actually slowed down file transfers if you where not paying for it. From what I understand the new version has no download limits based of paying for an artificial scarcity.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Nov 2010 @ 9:01am

Re:
Actually, most open source software does not infringe copyright* and so would have been legal to sell as closed software (And people in fact do make money doing work on the GPL'd linux kernal but that's irrelevant to your ignorant rant)

Your view that oss just copies closed apps is just plain wrong. The internet itself was made possible by innovation that came from the open source world(html for one), and I often find linux has features not present in closed unix variants or windows. Also, linux got to a point where it was more stable than it's closed unix brothers of that time and thus took market share for mission critical applications, which itself should be enough to prove that open code has merit.

*The software patent system is so broken that most closed software would be infringing too, so that isn't an issue that is particular to oss.(you can even find patents granted for processes that are older than 30 years, which are supposed to be beyond the terms for patentablity)
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