LimeWire has lost a court case and been found guilty of facilitating copyright infringement.

The US Federal court ruled in favour of major recording industry players, saying that LimeWire users “commit a substantial amount of copyright infringement” and that the owners of the site hadn’t made serious attempts to address copyright breaches.

The verdict in the long running case, bought against the company by the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA), found LimeWire founder, Mark Gorton, personally guilty of committing copyright infringement.

While the site is still currently active, it is expected that the popular file-sharing network will soon close.

The RIAA, representing such music industry heavy hitters as Warner, Universal Music, Sony and EMI are demanding $US150,000 for every single instance of copyright violation.

LimeWire officials are defiant however, and released the following statement: “LimeWire remains committed to developing innovative products and services for the end-user and to working with the entire music industry, including the major labels, to achieve this mission.”