LimeWire Pirate Edition Replaces the Defunct LimeWire

Article by George Norman (Cybersecurity Editor)

on 09 Nov 2010

It just goes to prove that when people want something, they are going to get it. After the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) shut down LimeWire a couple of weeks back, a small group of developers from the original LimeWire team decided to do something about it. What they came up with is LimeWire Pirate Edition, which is basically LimeWire Pro 5.6 without the advertising. LimeWire Pirate Edition is now making the rounds on torrent sites (where else?!).

“All dependencies on LimeWire LLC’s servers have been removed, all remote settings have been disabled, the Ask toolbar has been unbundled, and all features of LimeWire PRO have been activated for free,” a source told TorrentFreak. “LimeWire Pirate Edition should work better than the last functioning version of LimeWire (5.5.10), and it should keep working for longer.”

Please note that LimeWire Pirate Edition, which you can get from torrent sites, is only available for Windows. TorrentFreak, site that specializes in everything torrent-related, put LimeWire Pirate Edition to the test and said it “functioned perfectly well”.

A couple of weeks back, as part of our Halloween Special, we reported on the terrifying news that LimeWire, the popular peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing client that offered support for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, has been shut down by the United States District Court Southern District of New York. The RIAA, the trade group that claims to represent the US recording Industry, took LimeWire to court and argued that LimeWire “intentionally encouraged infringement” by LimeWire users, that LimeWire is used “overwhelmingly for infringement”, that LimeWire knew about the “substantial infringement being committed” by its users, and that LimeWire’s business model depends on mass copyright infringements.

After the RIAA won the trial, LimeWire had to shut down its operation. Visitors to LimeWire.com were presented with the following message:
"LEGAL NOTICE
This is an official notice that LimeWire is under a
court-ordered injunction to stop distributing and supporting its file-sharing software. Downloading or sharing copyrighted content without authorization is illegal."

UPDATE Nov 12: LimeWire officially responded and asked for a cease and and desist. Now when you go to LimeWire.com you get to see the following message:

LimeWire is under a court order dated October 26, 2010 to stop distributing the LimeWire software. A copy of the injunction can be found here. LimeWire LLC, its directors and officers, are taking all steps to comply with the injunction. We have very recently become aware of unauthorized applications on the internet purporting to use the LimeWire name. We demand that all persons using the LimeWire software, name, or trademark in order to upload or download copyrighted works in any manner cease and desist from doing so. We further remind you that the unauthorized uploading and downloading of copyrighted works is illegal."


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