LimeWire faces piracy suit from major record labels

Some of the world's biggest record labels sued the makers of the file-sharing program LimeWire, saying the software allowed users to download music without paying for it, a Reuters report said.

The report said the complaint, filed in a Manhattan federal court, was the latest in a string of lawsuits the music industry had filed in an attempt to curb Internet piracy.

That effort was bolstered last year when the US Supreme Court ruled that content companies could take legal action against technology firms that encouraged copyright infringement.

The Reuters report said record labels owned by the world's four major music companies - Universal Music, Sony BMG, EMI Group, and Warner Music - brought the lawsuit against New York-based Lime Wire LLC.

The suit sought $150,000 in damages for every song "willfully infringed" by LimeWire. It also named LimeWire parent Lime Group LLC as well as chief executive Mark Gorton and chief operating officer Greg Bildson as defendants, the report said.

LimeWire officials could not be reached for comment.

In the complaint, the record companies accused LimeWire of profiting from illicit downloads of their music, saying "the scope of infringement is massive," the report said.