The Vergecast Version History: LimeWire
32 snips
Nov 16, 2025 
Nilay Patel, a tech journalist with expertise in consumer software, and Sarah Jeong, a legal commentator focused on copyright, delve into the history of LimeWire and its impact on music sharing. They explore LimeWire's rise post-Napster and discuss key legal battles that transformed copyright law. The conversation touches on LimeWire's pivot attempts after court rulings, the music industry's reaction, and how the service's design contributed to its popularity among college students. Ultimately, they ponder LimeWire's legacy and what a reboot might look like today.
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Mainstreaming Peer‑to‑Peer Piracy
- LimeWire positioned itself as a prettier, more usable follow-up to Napster and Kazaa that mainstreamed peer-to-peer file sharing.
- Its Java client, design polish, and ubiquity made piracy feel normal and product-like for millions of users.
College Piracy Radicalized A Career
- Nilay Patel recounts being a college activist who emailed IT about traffic shaping to block Napster and later defended students sued for using Kazaa.
- Those experiences pushed him toward law and then tech journalism.
Grokster Created The 'Inducement' Tool
- The Supreme Court's Grokster ruling created the inducement doctrine, weakening the 'substantial non‑infringing uses' defense for platforms.
- That legal shift made software makers vulnerable when their products were shown to encourage piracy.