CBS, CNET Sued for Copyright Infringement Over LimeWire Distribution

A coalition of artists, led by the founder of FilmOn.com, have sued CBS Interactive and CNET over what they consider to be the facilitation of massive copyright infringement.

LimeWire has been downloaded more than 220 million times via CBS properties like Download.com, according to the lawsuit. That accounts for about 95 percent of LimeWire downloads until it was shut down by court order last year, the suit claims.

"Illegal file sharing through LimeWire has caused enormous damage to everyone who is trying to make a living in the entertainment community," according to FilmOn founder Alki David. "My ultimate hope is that this lawsuit will ensure that huge corporations like CBS Interactive and CNET do not profit from these wrongful activities at the expense of hard-working artists."

Artists who have joined David's lawsuit include Detron Bendross of 2 Live Crew, Rome, Diamond Blue of Pretty Ricky, Trisco Smith from Force MDs, and Coldhard representing Crucial Conflict.

CBS "received massive amounts of revenue from P2P providers on a 'pay per download' basis and also from advertising revenue generated by advertisements placed on the download screen for P2P software," according to the lawsuit, which was filed in California district court. "The CBS defendants' business model has been so dependent upon P2P and file-sharing applications that entire pages of Download.com are designed specifically to list and categorize these software offerings."

CBS was well-aware that these sites were used for copyright infringement, but ignored that fact "in exchange for a steady stream of income," according to the suit.

The lawsuit also targets articles and podcasts that discuss P2P software and offer videos, articles, and other media that instruct people "how to use P2P software to locate pirated copies of copyrighted works and remove electronic protections placed on digital music files in order to prevent infringement."

This is not the first time David has tangled with CBS. In November, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against FilmOn.com, which had been streaming content from the major U.S. television networks, including CBS, on the site. The networks said FilmOn, as well as Ivi, violated U.S. copyright law, according to the LA Times.

In a statement, CBS said "this latest move by Mr. David is a desperate attempt to distract copyright holders like us from continuing our rightful claims. His lawsuit against CBS affiliates is riddled with inaccuracies, and we are confident that we will prevail, just as we did in the injunction hearing involving his company."

In October, Lime Wire announced that it had from the Gnutella peer-to-peer network. Lime Wire was orderd by a court to disable the searching, downloading, uploading, file trading and/or file distribution functionality, and/or all functionality of LimeWire's P2P file-sharing software. A pirated version of the software , but Limewire said it had nothing to do with it and was complying with the court's order. The company in early 2011.

With Limewire shut down, the percentage of U.S. Internet users who access P2P file-sharing services dropped about 7 percent from it all-time high in 2007, according to .

In a somewhat rambling 20-minute video posted on filmon.com/cbsyousuck/, David said CNET employees are "essentially manipulating the minds of the youth, teaching them that it's OK to steal. I'm not an angel, believe me, but this is truly diabolical."