LimeWire seeks data from Amazon in bid to avoid big payout to RIAA

As LimeWire awaits its jury trial to determine how much it owes the recording industry, the company is trying to get the inside scoop on how much the RIAA really makes off the work it represents. LimeWire has begun pushing third-party licensees to hand over their internal records and documentation related to music industry deals, but so far, they have refused.
LimeWire has been in the RIAA's crosshairs since 2006 thanks to its P2P functionality. In May of 2010, Judge Kimba Wood ruled that LimeWire was liable for inducing copyright infringement among its users—the company made virtually no effort to police infringement or even discourage it, aside from asking users to affirm that they weren't doing Bad Things. Judge Wood then slapped LimeWire with an injunction in October, ordering the company to suspend its P2P services.
Since then, LimeWire and the RIAA have been biding their time until the jury trial that will determine how much LimeWire has to shell out in damages (the trial was originally scheduled for this month, but has since been pushed back to April). The RIAA told Ars that "billions and billions of illegal downloads" had occurred under LimeWire's care, which it likely hoped would translate into "billions and billions" of dollars in damages.
LimeWire, however, is doing what it can to fight back. In December, the company got US Magistrate Judge Debra Freeman to order the record companies to choose 100 works that are representative of LimeWire's infringement and hand over info on the related costs (royalty payments, delivery costs, etc.). But, as first noted by the Hollywood Reporter, LimeWire is pushing for more.


LimeWire wants third-party services—starting with Amazon—to fork over their documentation related to the RIAA. This includes royalty payments, accounting data, and internal communications within Amazon about the music labels. Amazon has, so far, refused to do so, arguing that the record labels should have sufficient documentation to give to the courts. LimeWire's lawyers aren't buying that argument.
"The Subpoena requests documents that could not be within Plaintiffs' possession, e.g. purely internal Amazon communications regarding its licensing agreements with Plaintiffs placed on their copyrighted works," they wrote.


The Reporter asserts that LimeWire's move with Amazon indicates that it's about to drag Apple into the mess as well—not a bad assumption, as Apple controls the number one online music store in the US. Surely, Apple has all manner of juicy info about music industry negotiations, but the iPod maker isn't likely to be more inclined to cooperate than Amazon.