Movie Studios Jump In Late: Sue LimeWire And Demand Cash From Dead Site

from the the-new-business-model? dept

Mon, Feb 6th 2012 3:28pm — Mike Masnick

Limewire is long dead and buried as a file sharing platform, and with the company settling the lawsuit filed against it by the major record labels for $105 million (down from the many trillions it had originally said it deserved), you might think that the legal shenanigans were long over. Apparently, someone in the MPAA just woke up to the fact that this might be a way to get some easy cash to pump into its next lobbying campaign, and has just now sued Limewire as well, demanding cash for any of its files that were traded. Of course, a bunch of indie record labels also sued, so it appears that lots of those who chose not to innovate are now trying to feed off of what's left of Limewire's carcass. It does make you wonder, of course, what made the movie studios wait so damn long. Of course, isn't that just like Hollywood? Rather than do something original, it just does a "remake" of something someone else already did?

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Filed Under: copyright, file sharing, lawsuit
Companies: limewire, mpaa

44 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 6 Feb 2012 @ 3:40pm

....Pffffffftaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

....Oh god, the MPAA/RIAA are so stupid, it's funny now.

I think we should create a tally of all the times they've done something stupid over doing something smart.
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Eric Plaisance (profile), 6 Feb 2012 @ 3:40pm

At least they aren't loading this remake with unnecessary CGI and head-ache inducing 3D effects.
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The eejit (profile), 6 Feb 2012 @ 3:43pm

Re:
It, is, however, in glorious HD.
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Pwdrskir (profile), 6 Feb 2012 @ 3:53pm

Old Dog, Old Trick...
Hollywood is becoming more and more irrelevant as People�s Experiences posted on the Internet become the New Medium for telling stories.
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TheStupidOne, 6 Feb 2012 @ 3:57pm

Question
While the MPAA will undoubtedly get some kind of ruling in their favor, do they have any chance of seeing any money as a result of this? I figure the RIAA already cleaned LimeWire out and there is nothing left to win from them. I suppose they could just be suing for sentimental reasons, but sentiment doesn't pay the laywers ...
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The Moondoggie, 6 Feb 2012 @ 3:59pm

WTF Hollywood?!?
This is just silly, it's like trying to ride a dead horse.
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khory (profile), 6 Feb 2012 @ 4:11pm

What are they trying to do here? Are they trying to get some type of favorable court ruling to set future precedent? There is no way that they think this could get them any payment- there's nothing left. This move has to be costing them money in legal fees
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Feb 2012 @ 4:13pm

Re: Re:
It seems like the same old story, they didn't add or remove anything... And it doesn't seem worse than the original! Just stupider.
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Jay (profile), 6 Feb 2012 @ 4:14pm

Re:
Even Google's servers would fail at calculating the utter failures of the RIAA and their astronomical incompetence in the digital era...
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trilobug, 6 Feb 2012 @ 4:14pm

You can't write this shit.
Oh that's fucking funny.
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Torg (profile), 6 Feb 2012 @ 4:42pm

Re:
Now I'm curious to find out what a subpoena looks like in 3D.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Feb 2012 @ 4:53pm

Re: WTF Hollywood?!?
And WTF is wrong with riding a dead horse?

Hollywood has made truckloads of money from riding dead horses....

Put a moving background behind them and a wind machine... horses on the move (pay no attention to the unmoving legs)...

... sorry meme too old...
Declare the horse is now "better, faster and cheaper."
Say this horse was procured with cost as an independent variable.

Or the source of current management at the **AA's:
Promote the dead horse to a supervisory position.
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Kevin H (profile), 6 Feb 2012 @ 4:58pm

CAn't hear you over the..
loud repetitive smacking sound Sound.

I picture this
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Kevin H (profile), 6 Feb 2012 @ 4:58pm

Re: CAn't hear you over the..
damn't

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_027yG3D69yE/TB0pSjKMLzI/AAAAAAAAADk/8A9tYev1azI/s1600/flogging-d ead-horse.jpg
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gorehound (profile), 6 Feb 2012 @ 5:06pm

There Be YARM !!!
Yet Another Remake !!!!
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letherial (profile), 6 Feb 2012 @ 5:09pm

Re: Re: WTF Hollywood?!?
Yes yes, but what is there next move?

Id say they would put the dead horse on some stilts, have a motor move the stilts... TADA; a whole new plot
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Feb 2012 @ 5:09pm

don't these people ever get tired of doing stupid shit
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Suja (profile), 6 Feb 2012 @ 5:10pm

Re:
forgot to log in
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Suja (profile), 6 Feb 2012 @ 5:13pm

Re: Re: WTF Hollywood?!?
(pay no attention to the unmoving legs)

lol just crop their legs out of the shot, no one will ever figure it out
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The Real Fake AC, 6 Feb 2012 @ 5:15pm

Re: Re:
Ah, yes - glorious (H)ead (D)esk.
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TtfnJohn (profile), 6 Feb 2012 @ 5:29pm

Re:
It must be that the futures market in flies has gone through the roof. I can't see any other reason for it,
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TechnoMage (profile), 6 Feb 2012 @ 5:43pm

tsk tsk tsk
MIKE!!!

How dare you. You are always telling the MPAA to adopt new and upcoming business models... And this the the only one they are good at. So, let them enjoy trying to get blood from a stone. -_-
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Amandaliza (profile), 6 Feb 2012 @ 7:02pm

it just does a "remake" of something someone else already did
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Yello, 6 Feb 2012 @ 7:32pm

BTjunkie shut down for good today. What are you BTJ users using instead?
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Feb 2012 @ 8:00pm

Is the corporation behind LimeWire dissolved or is it operating?
If it's dissolved, there's nobody or nothing to sue.
It no longer exists!
It's like suing Pan Am for an airline crash in the 1970s!
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apauld (profile), 6 Feb 2012 @ 10:04pm

Re: WTF Hollywood?!?
"it's like trying to ride a dead horse."

this one time, at band camp, ...
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apauld (profile), 6 Feb 2012 @ 10:50pm

Re:
I had to vote your post insightful, and funny; it is certainly both. However in looking at the big picture (which Getty Images will claim to own, even if the have never seen it before), you comment is also scary. Scary because the MPAA will always miss the point; and that is what they have been hired to do.

"What are they trying to do here? Are they trying to get some type of favorable court ruling to set future precedent? There is no way that they think this could get them any payment- there's nothing left. This move has to be costing them money in legal fees"

What I think people forget is that the MPAA are not content creators. The MPAA is a firm, hired by the Hollywood movie execs, to specifically lobby, sue and bully the rest of the world to do their bidding. (So the Hollywood execs do not have to actually 'waste time' with things like thinking about hwo to improve their businesses).

I think the entire world needs to stop trying to address Chris Dodd and the MPAA. That is not to say that we shouldn't try to stop them at every point; but along with pointing out the fallacies that they promote, we should try to educate the common workers in the industry about how the internet could work for their benfit.

We should address the film making unions in this country, and work to teach the union members about new ways their bosses could be selling the product that they (the union members) have created.

If we get the unions to understand the whole "failed business model vs. new media" AND "new business models are often created through new media" this might all get a whole lot easier for those of us in the supporting freedom of the internet crowd.

aPaulD
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Al Bert (profile), 6 Feb 2012 @ 10:55pm

it works for dvds, i'm sure!
Well, it is the MPAA. They probably just assumed that there was some unreasonably long, arbitrarily agreed-upon delay before they could sue. Obviously they'd make more money the longer they waited, right?
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 6 Feb 2012 @ 11:33pm

Re: Re: WTF Hollywood?!?
Chris Dodd is not a horse, he is a burro.

.....wait for it......

And now your laughing....
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 6 Feb 2012 @ 11:38pm

It seems we are overlooking the mindshare granted in the public eye by winning this case.
MPAA WINS $3.5 KAJILLION DOLLARS IN COPYRIGHT LAWSUIT.
That is the headline.
So few people will get down into the details of the case and point out that they were just picking over the carcass.

This is a lawyers idea of how to generate fear, I've seen this happening in other cases going on now. Name a lawyer with multiple $200K "wins", where the actual award will be a tiny portion paid over time and the 200K will be reduced as long as he behaves.

SJD - No fair giving it away yet....
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Al Bert (profile), 7 Feb 2012 @ 12:28am

Re:
I don't know how anybody could overlook the oldest reason for their litigation tactics. Of course it's about making the public fearful and obedient. They're burning down the corner deli.

Of course, i'm sure they also thrive on bad caselaw this shit generates. It's win-win for them. Their money came easy.
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Planespotter (profile), 7 Feb 2012 @ 2:24am

Re:
BTJunkie was just an aggregating site, who needs it... plenty more of them out there.
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The eejit (profile), 7 Feb 2012 @ 3:17am

Re: Re: WTF Hollywood?!?
And WTF is wrong with riding a dead horse?

I saw the movie, it wasn't that good. Bit on the squishy side, actually.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Feb 2012 @ 4:18am

Of course, isn't that just like Hollywood? Rather than do something original, it just does a "remake" of something someone else already did?

Its stupidly brilliant. Or brilliantly stupid? Think about it. They can claim they have no ideas or writers, because pirates are destroying creativity and jobs.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Feb 2012 @ 5:32am

Re:
Hmm...I wonder if I could sue if I wasn't alive during that crash...

***waddles off to the attorney's office***
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Feb 2012 @ 6:21am

Re: Re: Re: WTF Hollywood?!?
"Id say they would put the dead horse on some stilts, have a motor move the stilts... TADA; a whole new plot"

But of course it would cost them 10 times more money to do this, then when people didn't want to pay the inflated price for a crappy version, claim piracy is ruining them.

In the mean time, they could have gotten a live horse for a lot less and created a better plot!
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Feb 2012 @ 6:26am

This story reminds me of an Animal House quote "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son."

But apparently the **AA's are full of these people.
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The Logician (profile), 7 Feb 2012 @ 6:34am

...it appears that lots of those who chose not to innovate are now trying to feed off of what's left of Limewire's carcass.

And here, Mike, you have provided a very accurate picture of what the MPAA truly is: a scavenger. A vulture, in other words. Such birds do not typically bring down their prey themselves but instead feed only on the wounded and the dead. Interestingly, one of the terms for a group of vultures is, in fact, committee. Like vultures, the MPAA and other gatekeepers do not do anything productive themselves, but merely subsist off of the efforts of others. Ironic given that that is the very accusation which they level at anyone who questions their behavior.
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jd2112 (profile), 7 Feb 2012 @ 7:00am

Re: Re:
more like eye-popping 3-D
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Feb 2012 @ 7:38am

Re: Re: Re:
Actually they recast Hulk Hogan as the grandfather. So its both better and stupider.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Feb 2012 @ 7:45am

Re: Re: Re: Re: WTF Hollywood?!?
A dead horse that everyone stumbles over themselves to consume its content...

Snore.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Feb 2012 @ 7:50am

Re:
And here, Logician, you have provided a very accurate picture of what freetards truly are: scavengers. Vultures, in other words. Such birds do not typically bring down their prey themselves but instead feed only on the wounded and the dead. Interestingly, one of the terms for a group of vultures is, in fact, committee. Like vultures, Google and other grafters do not do anything productive themselves, but merely subsist off of the efforts of others. Ironic given that that is the very accusation which they level at anyone who questions their behavior.
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Hector Salamanca (profile), 7 Feb 2012 @ 8:53am

The MPAA should make a movie about their shinanigans. I think it would be safe to say it would be a comedy.

Not sure if I'd pay to watch it or just download it though!
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Feb 2012 @ 1:21am

Re: Re:
Pirates have committees?

What a shill. Rants about copying, and copies someone else wholesale. Oh, right, Big Media is wounded and dead. Just like Limewire!
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