well !LimeWire and other file-sharing software is legal. Using it to upload or download copyright protected media -- music, videos, images, software -- without the copyright holder's consent is illegal because it is theft.

Here are more opinions and tips:


LimeWire says it is legal because technically it's just a "file sharing" service and it is not held responsible for the files that are downloaded onto the system. Only the users are responsible. That's why, when you download songs from LimeWire, it's legal for them, but NOT for you.

Don't be fooled by the fee you pay to use the PRO version of LimeWire. The artists of the songs you download don't get a penny of that! ("LimeWire offers two versions of the software: LimeWire Basic which is free of charge; the other is LimeWire PRO which costs a small fee, features faster download speeds and better search results, including up to 6 months of free updates and customer support via email.")

Even if you download a coyrighted song for your own personal use, it's still illegal. Perhaps one could skate around the issue if they already own a legal copy on a CD, but then why download it if that's the case. Any fees paid to LimeWire are for purchasing the software and that's it.

LimeWire is not illegal software. All it is is file sharing. However, many people abuse this by sharing songs without the copyright. For example, if you have produced a song and then share it on LimeWire, anyone else can legally have it for free. But when you haven't made it, but an artist has, who has copyright on that song (which they all do) downloading that song without permission from the producer is totally illegal.

Downloading songs and other copyrighted material is illegal, but if you wanted to share a music file of you singing or playing an instrument, then that is perfectly legal.

LIMEWIRE IS ILLEGAL! Although, with LimeWire, you will probably never get caught, if you as much as bring your computer in for a repair and a worker sees the program or any music you downloaded from LimeWire, he is ordered BY LAW to tell his boss, and you will get a fine (I had to pay approximately $200.) It's not pretty. Although we all want LimeWire to be legal, it isn't.

The LimeWire software itself is not illegal -- that is why the site is still up and why you can still download it. However, if you download a song from the program and you do not pay copyright on it, that is illegal. Songs from the 1950's (or before that date) are legal to download because their copyright has expired. Anything from after that is illegal to download. However... You are all going to do it anyway, so this is just to make you aware of the legal situation!

Is LimeWire illegal? No, it is not. It CAN'T legally be held accountable for what its users do. Let's put it like this: A major virus takes out the whole of the Internet. But when they trace the source, it leads to Runescape servers, for example. Runescape is an online game that gives its users access to its servers, kind of like LimeWire. Now are the people who own Runescape responsible? Nope, but its users ARE. Same thing with LimeWire. My advice to you is this: Do not use it to access "free" music, or "free" programs... images... and so on and so forth. I have had my fair share of songs I got from LimeWire. And if I could, I would return them to the artists and companies that worked hard to make them.

Here is some info regarding P2P software and file-sharing. If only people would just take the time to read the fine print. I've visited the websites of a few popular file-sharing software distributors and looked for disclaimers, TOS, End User Licenses, etc. I have only quoted bits of relevant information to give you an idea of what to expect. For more detailed info, follow the links I've provided or visit the sites yourself for the full text. Continue r

Answered by raj u , an ibibo Master, at 1:45 PM on October 21, 2008

I just want to clear something up... Limewire itself is NOT illegal. That is just a myth spread around by ignorant people. It is a program like any other, but it is how people use it which is the illegal part. Using Limewire and downloading non copyrighted files from it is perfectly legal.

However, it is when people share and download copyrighted material that the act itself becomes illegal. It is similar to the old days of the VCR. People in the TV business back in the early days fought hard to have the VCR banned from being made due to "copyright" worries. Now VCR's are/were as common as the automobile.

Limewire also does something else that keeps it legal and from being shut down. It has no central servers. Unlike Napster which was a physical company that ran all the Internet traffic through itself, Limewire is merely a program. It lets the users find and connect to each other without any central server to travel through, so there really is no one to sue. This was first done by Gnutella (which has since evolved into Limewire) and then by Kazaa. The RIAA and MPAA want to try to sue them, but they can't sue the program makers for merely making a product. It is how customers use that product which makes it illegal. Sort of like trying to sue a car manufacturer for a drunk driver killing someone.

Why do you think it is that the RIAA and MPAA keep suing the USERS of Limewire rather than Limewire itself? It is because they cannot bring suit against the Limewire company. They basically go on a suing campaign every few years and sue about 100 people or so at a time, usually costing them far more in revenue than they are losing. Money is not their main concern, scare tactics are. They go after college students, kids, and middle class families, trying to "make a point" that no one is safe, however suing a handful of people every few years out of the tens of millions of people that use it really has no deterent effect.

Their latest suing crusade backfired when they brought a multimillion dollar suit against a single mother from the middle of nowhere. They spent millions researching the case and finding out her identity, thinking they were getting some "high roller" in the virtual world... and it turned out to be a single mom who had just downloaded 1 or 2 songs out of curiosity. They eventually agreed to settle for her written promise not to download anymore, but the suit had already cost them millions.

To add to that, it is nearly impossible for the recording industry to find out who you are. When you use Limewire, you give up your IP address when you download which the RIAA and MPAA get. They can then match these up to Internet Service Providers (ISP's) who have your identity. However, it is your ISP's that are protecting you. They never give up your identity that matches your IP address to the recording industry for civil matters. However, if they get a subpoena for illegal criminal activities, not just civil suits, most will cooperate with authorities. But the ISP's know that if they start giving up customer identities to the recording industry for using programs like Limewire, their customers would leave them in droves. They maintain their business by protecting your privacy.

So in short, Limewire is NOT illegal to own or use, but the downloading of copyrighted material IS illegal. Hope that clears everything up.

Good luck!

Visit the source site:
http://answers.yahoo.com/que stion/index?qid=20071119175230AAsns X8

Answered by Dinesh , an ibibo Master, at 7:05 AM on October 21, 2008

This is a very interesting question because it points to a subtlety of copyright law and also highlights how the enabling software for illegal infringement of copyright can itself be neutral, that is, used for either good or bad purposes.

In a nutshell, Limewire and similar "peer to peer" or p2p file sharing tools (BitTorrent is another popular tool) are perfectly legal and there's no prohibition on distributing the applications or having them on your computer.

However, just as having a magnet that could influence the wheels in a slot machine could sway you to using it illegally, so having software like Limewire can influence and encourage you to receive downloads of audio and video content that is indeed illegally distributed.

Here's how the Limewire folk respond to this question:

"Copyright laws and laws pertaining to patents and inventions protect original works of authorship and inventions. Individuals who reproduce, distribute copies, receive copies, publicly perform or display works or inventions other than their own and without the consent of the owners or holders of rights, or their authorized agents, in original works of authorship or inventions, may be in violation of copyright, patent or other intellectual property infringement. Lime Wire LLC does not encourage or condone the illegal copying of copyrighted material. This is not intended to be legal counsel or advice. If you have any questions, consult your attorney."

Of course, try downloading the Limewire application from their site and you'll find you have to answer a question that highlights that they are well aware of its most common use:
Limewire download: are you going to use it to infringe on copyrighted material?

Indicate that you "might" use it and your download fails with the error "Lime Wire LLC does not distribute LimeWire BASIC to people who intend to use it for purposes of copyright infringement."

Pardon my skepticism. It's like MySpace forgetting to warn you that the majority of people who sign up for an account inevitably lie about their ages.

Anyway, let me show you how incredibly easy it is to find illegal content to download before you dismiss what I'm saying.

I agreed on the download page that I wouldn't use Limewire to access copyright infringing material, downloaded it, and started it up on my Mac. Then I popped over to Amazon.com and randomly picked one of the top selling audio CDs in their music store, the new album All The Roadrunning by talented artists Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris.

I then typed in "mark knopfler" into the search box on Limewire and waited no more than 90 seconds to find:
Limewire download: the latest album by Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris
Click for full size image

That wasn't hard, was it? And clearly the songs from the album that are shown in Limewire aren't legal copies distributed by either the musicians or their label to increase sales of the original CD.

To be fair, with some file sharing systems I do believe that the people who would, for example, download a 350 page illegally scanned PDF of a book aren't the people who would have bought it in the store, but audio content is a different story because with iPods, Windows Media Player, and related, you only ever touch the audio CD once, then it's ripped on your computer(s) and can vanish. Now the content's digital and it's incredibly easy to 'share' it with your friends and the Internet community at large. Even though it's not legal to do so.

Nonetheless, going back to your original question, Limewire is not illegal, but I do honestly believe that the majority, if not vast majority, of its users are utilizing the application to distribute and download illegal content onto their computer, be it "cam recordings" of the latest movies, dupes of commercial DVDs, music, or other mat

Answered by jaivir , an ibibo Master, at 6:49 AM on October 21, 2008

LimeWire and other file-sharing software is legal. Using it to upload or download copyright protected media -- music, videos, images, software -- without the copyright holder's consent is illegal because it is theft.

Here are more opinions and tips:

* LimeWire says it is legal because technically it's just a "file sharing" service and it is not held responsible for the files that are downloaded onto the system. Only the users are responsible. That's why, when you download songs from LimeWire, it's legal for them, but NOT for you.

* Don't be fooled by the fee you pay to use the PRO version of LimeWire. The artists of the songs you download don't get a penny of that! ("LimeWire offers two versions of the software: LimeWire Basic which is free of charge; the other is LimeWire PRO which costs a small fee, features faster download speeds and better search results, including up to 6 months of free updates and customer support via email.")

* Even if you download a coyrighted song for your own personal use, it's still illegal. Perhaps one could skate around the issue if they already own a legal copy on a CD, but then why download it if that's the case. Any fees paid to LimeWire are for purchasing the software and that's it.

* LimeWire is not illegal software. All it is is file sharing. However, many people abuse this by sharing songs without the copyright. For example, if you have produced a song and then share it on LimeWire, anyone else can legally have it for free. But when you haven't made it, but an artist has, who has copyright on that song (which they all do) downloading that song without permission from the producer is totally illegal.

* Downloading songs and other copyrighted material is illegal, but if you wanted to share a music file of you singing or playing an instrument, then that is perfectly legal.

* LIMEWIRE IS ILLEGAL! Although, with LimeWire, you will probably never get caught, if you as much as bring your computer in for a repair and a worker sees the program or any music you downloaded from LimeWire, he is ordered BY LAW to tell his boss, and you will get a fine (I had to pay approximately $200.) It's not pretty. Although we all want LimeWire to be legal, it isn't.

* The LimeWire software itself is not illegal -- that is why the site is still up and why you can still download it. However, if you download a song from the program and you do not pay copyright on it, that is illegal. Songs from the 1950's (or before that date) are legal to download because their copyright has expired. Anything from after that is illegal to download. However... You are all going to do it anyway, so this is just to make you aware of the legal situation!

* Is LimeWire illegal? No, it is not. It CAN'T legally be held accountable for what its users do. Let's put it like this: A major virus takes out the whole of the Internet. But when they trace the source, it leads to Runescape servers, for example. Runescape is an online game that gives its users access to its servers, kind of like LimeWire. Now are the people who own Runescape responsible? Nope, but its users ARE. Same thing with LimeWire. My advice to you is this: Do not use it to access "free" music, or "free" programs... images... and so on and so forth. I have had my fair share of songs I got from LimeWire. And if I could, I would return them to the artists and companies that worked hard to make them.

* Here is some info regarding P2P software and file-sharing. If only people would just take the time to read the fine print. I've visited the websites of a few popular file-sharing software distributors and looked for disclaimers, TOS, End User Licenses, etc. I have only quoted bits of relevant information to give you an idea of what to expect. For more detailed info, follow the links I've provided or visit the sites yourself for the full te

Answered by Ashish Yadav , an ibibo Wizard, at 1:36 AM on October 21, 2008