Lime Wire scrambles to avoid annihilation

The company that operates the LimeWire file-sharing software continues to maneuver in an effort to save the company from a potential court-ordered closure but time is slipping away.

Two weeks ago, U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood handed a major legal victory to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which filed a copyright lawsuit against the Lime Wire company in 2006. She ruled that Lime Group, parent of LimeWire software maker Lime Wire, and founder Mark Gorton are liable for copyright infringement. Lime Group and Gorton could be required to pay hundreds of millions in damages and legal experts say the music industry now has the means to force the service to cease operations.

On Wednesday, attorneys for Lime Group filed a motion with the court asking Wood to reconsider her decision, according to court documents obtained by The Hollywood Reporter. Lime Group lawyers wrote that the judge made numerous errors in her decision, such as finding that Gorton received a direct financial benefit from the copyright infringement. She also "failed to consider whether Lime Group had the ability to supervise the particular Lime Wire actions," the lawyers claimed in their filing.

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