Add Lime Wire suit

THE STORY SO FAR: The Big Four are seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from LimeWire and founder Mark Gorton, after U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood ruled last year that LimeWire’s file-sharing software induced infringement and ordered the service shut down. Gorton’s lawyers are trying to convince the jury that other factors were responsible for the decline in industry revenue besides P2P. Defense attorney Joseph Baio cited the labels’ own past comments about counterfeit and copied CDs, the recession, bankruptcies of music wholesalers and retailers, the maturation of the CD market, competition from other forms of entertainment such as video games, and the industry’s own inability to exploit the new technologies. Baio said Gorton made only about $6 million from the 9761 songs listed as infringed in the suit. LimeWire’s revenue came from selling a premium version of the software. (5/12a)