Limewire Squeezed

LIMEWIRE GETS SQUEEZED: A federal judge limited the potential financial liability facing the operators of LimeWire to one award to each of the 13 record companies per work infringed. The record labels had argued they deserved one award for each infringement by individual LimeWire users. The ruling allows the labels to recover between $7.5 million and $1.5 billion of "statutory" damages from N.Y.-based Lime Group and other defendants, including founder Mark Gorton. This sum is based on $750 to $150,000 of possible damages for each of roughly 10,000 post-1972 recordings infringed through LimeWire. The labels are also entitled to "actual" damages for infringement of about 1,000 earlier works. (3/11a)