CNet targetted in LimeWire suit

Alki David, a filmmaker with more beef than a Texan rancher, has launched a class action lawsuit against CNet. He's looking for musicians and other filmmakers to join in to claim damages after CNet distributed Limewire software.

I know what you're thinking - aren't any damages already being pursued through the lawsuit against Limewire? Yes.

There's a plodding twenty minute video in which David churns slowly through his case, like a man who assumes his audience might not be actually awake, but the key bit is his claim that there's "many billions of dollars" to be shared. (Presumably Alki is expecting CBS to bankrupt itself in any judgement?)

David is convinced, or has convinced himself, that CNet's distribution of LimeWire was with "malicious intent". He drags in a lot of other irrelevances to his case, straighfacedly suggesting that showing someone how to strip DRM from a track is "teaching people to steal".

In a bid to perk up the video, he's cut in some images of angry skeletons - it doesn't really perk the video up.

By about 12 minutes, he's on to Bittorrent, and claiming "the liability in this is into the many trillions of dollars". Yes, you'll recall that the music industry used to be worth several trillions before filesharing was invented.

About 16 minutes in, he's trying again to liven up his video by doing what appears to be a parody of the Victor Kiam adverts. That's okay, though - that's covered by fair use.

After that, though, comes the real reason for this: David's long-running argument with CBS over his Film.On service. It's all quite extraordinary.