NMPA LimeWire Copyright Class Action Settlement

By Sarah Mirando | July 11, 2011

Category: Legal News

By Matt O’Donnell

Internet music-file-sharing site LimeWire and its creator, Mark Gorton, have reached a $14 million class action lawsuit settlement with the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) over alleged copyright infringement. The NMPA LimeWire settlement will be divided equally amongst music publishers who opt in to the class action lawsuit settlement.

The NMPA LimeWire class action settlement comes just months after now-defunct LimeWire agreed to pay $105 million to the major record labels in a lawsuit settlement with copyright watchdog Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for pirating nearly 10,000 tracks.

The $14 million NMPA LimeWire settlement will be distributed to all NMPA publisher members who are Active Affiliates of The Harry Fox Agency, Inc. (HFA) and non-U.S. mechanical collection societies who have entered into reciprocal agreements with HFA. In addition, Non-HFA Affiliates may participate in the LimeWire Settlement Distribution if they agree to join the NMPA Partnership Program. The details of joining the Partnership Program are available at www.NMPALimeWireSettlement.com.

Both NMPA Members who are non-HFA Publishers and MPA Members who are active HFA Affiliates who are interested in participating in the LimeWire copyright lawsuit settlement distribution must sign and submit an opt-in agreement no later than July 19, 2011.

Class Members of the NMPA LimeWire Class Action Lawsuit Settlement can find more information on their rights and how to calculate their “market share” from the settlement at www.NMPALimeWireSettlement.com.