u download music and video for free that r copyrighted. is it legal or illegal? if its legal, then why>
2007-02-21 11:16:27 · 7 answers · asked by lovr 3 in Computers & Internet ➔ Software
Hey Man,
LIMEWIRE is legal, what u do with it is illegal though. The company itself went through some serious litigation (court cases) back in 2000 and 2001 i believe and they found a loophole that Napster didn't find. they claimed in their product was intended for the sharing of freeware and other legal distribution. this as everyone knows is complete bs but the courts bought it. what limewire got out of doesnt save u from anything though. what u are doing when u download music or movies is effectively stealing from the artist or the producer and actors in the movies and u are stealing their hard earned money. of course no one really cares these days and so they do it.
but to wrap it up nicely and succinctly....
what limewire is, is a program that is designed to copy other peoples music and video and application files from other computers on to yours you dont pay anything for these and these things are made by the sweat and blood and tears of the creators. limewire had court cases and they found a loophole in the law and so they werent shut down like napster was. but thats limewire and they place the blame squarely on you so if you get caught having downloaded something from them then u are on your own and you are in trouble for theft.
Hope this helps,
Matt
2007-02-21 11:35:45 · answer #1 · answered by Eli Scott 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The program itself is legal, but being able to get files for "free" off of that program is illegal since most of the stuff you download from it is copyrighted. So in that sense, you're getting music and movies that you should have purchased, but didn't. You're "stealing" from the original artist, but as long as the artist does it for the music, they could care less. Look at Metallica, as soon as Lars complained about the whole Napster thing everyone knew that that band wasn't about the music anymore; it was about the money. They went downhill from there. Either way everybody downloads stuff. It really doesn't affect the sales of albums or anything like that..
2007-02-21 19:25:10 · answer #2 · answered by viva8la7ram 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
In addition to what others have said, Limewire is currently being sued by the RIAA for allowing its users to violate copyright law. The case goes to trial in May.
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3625091
2007-02-21 20:29:57 · answer #3 · answered by Rose D 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because its only software. They dont host files or anything like that. What the user chooses to download is what makes it legal or not.
Its like a gun being legal but murder isnt it.
2007-02-21 19:25:11 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
it is it just bring some viruses to ur computer, thats why u need to be smart and uninstall it after using it,. it will not erase any of thee downloaded songs that u have downloaded before.
2007-02-21 19:24:24 · answer #5 · answered by ♥ S k I p [a] B e a t ! 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i'm really not sure... i need to watch this one. All i know, is that it's not like you're SELLING the music that you download, that's definately illegal.
2007-02-21 19:22:13 · answer #6 · answered by classical_maniac101 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It's not illegal...and I use it all the time. If they were selling the music to you, then it'd be illegal (private selling, not like Napster).
2007-02-21 19:24:17 · answer #7 · answered by stephygirl4ever 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋