In the conclusion to a year-long and increasingly losing court battle for peer-to-peer client Limewire, the Recording Industry Association has been awarded $105 million in an out of court settlement.
This most recent case, which wrapped up last week with Limewire creator Mark Gorton agreeing to pay $105 million to thirteen record labels represented by the RIAA, is just another in the long losing streak for Limewire. However, that $105 million is actually quite a steal, as the jury could have awarded the RIAA almost $1.5 billion.
But even that is much lower than the RIAA’s initial amount of $75 trillion in damages—an amount larger than the entire global economy’s current GDP (currently standing at around $74 trillion).
Some have lauded the decision as a great victory for the music industry, with RIAA chairman Mitch Bainwol saying in recent interview that Limewire’s defeat signals a “milestone in the continuing evolution of online music to a legitimate marketplace that appropriately rewards creators.”
Others, like attorney Ray Beckerman, who has served as the opposition to the RIAA in related lawsuits, doesn’t see it as such a landmark.
“They got LimeWire shut down, and got some money…But what would be interesting to see is how much of the $105 million that it will get from LimeWire was eaten up by legal fees,” he said in a recent interview with Computer World.
With Limewire tagged with copyright infringement on some 9,715 tracks, Gorton will be paying around $10,808 per track.
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