Limewire, the popular file sharing website has been ordered to close permanently after a federal judge found it liable six months ago for copyright infringement on a ‘massive scale'.

U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood has entered a permanent injunction which demands that the service disables downloading, searching and uploading of its software and to block the sharing of unauthorised files. This lawsuit was started by the RIAA in 2006.

Limewire was found by the judge to violate copyright laws and allowed users to infringe on copyrights. The judge has also found Mark Gorton, LimeWire's founder, personally liable.

“Plaintiffs have suffered—and will continue to suffer—irreparable harm from LimeWire's inducement of widespread infringement of their wires,” the judge wrote in her order.

A trial will be conducted in January to ascertain the cost of damages.

“For the better part of the last decade, LimeWire and Gorton have violated the law,” the RIAA said. “The court has now signed an injunction that will start to unwind the massive piracy machine that LimeWire and Gorton used to enrich themselves immensely.”

LimeWire Chief Executive George Searle said “We are extremely proud of our pioneering history and have, for years, worked hard to bridge the gap between technology and content rights holders, However, at this time, we have no option but to cease further distribution and support of our software.”

KitGuru says: They may have been able to stop LimeWire but what about PiratesBay? They are fighting a losing battle.

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