LimeWire, a popular peer-to-peer file sharing website, has been ordered to shut down permanently. This decision comes 6 months after the company was found liable for copyright infringement.

US District Judge Kimba Wood ordered the company to disable the searching, downloading, uploading and file trading functions of its software. It is also required to block the sharing of unauthorized music files.

The legal action was initiated in 2006 by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), on behalf of the major record labels. LimeWire was ruled to be in violation of copyright was and found guilty of inducing its users to infringe on copyrights.

The company’s founder, Mark Gorton, has also been found personally liable. The judge found this suitable punishment because of the harm caused to plaintiffs. “Plaintiffs have suffered—and will continue to suffer-irreparable harm from LimeWire’s inducement of widespread infringement of their wires.”

The RIAA is set to determine damages with the count in January. RIAA is looking forward to unwinding “the massive piracy machine that LimeWire and Gorton used to enrich themselves immensely”.

LimeWire’s parent company has expressed disappointment at the outcome of the legal action, but underscores that the injunction only applies to LimeWire.  “We are extremely proud of our pioneering history and have, for years, worked hard to bridge the gap between technology and content rights holders”, said LimeWire’s Chief Executive George Searle.