Last year the file sharing site Lime Wire was shut down as it was found to be infringing copy right laws but the case surrounding the site continues with the Judge responsible now saying that damages that Lime Wire will have to pay will be limited.

Lime Wire allowed users to be able to share recordings with other computer users without any authorisation from the copyright owners and its owner Mark Gorton was found liable for copyright infringements last year.

Record companies have been told by Judge Wood that they can only apply once for damages for each song and that albums count as one case each unless singles from that album are available to buy individually from other sources.

A trial for the damages owed by Lime Wire is due to start in the US on May 2 with court papers stating that the total damages due could reach hundreds of millions of dollars.

The number of times any song or album was downloaded by users of Lime Wire is not relevant to the amount of damages owed by Lime Wire as this would have meant the company owing damages moving into the realms of trillions of dollars, an amount the judge described as an “absurdity”.

Record labels now have until April 15 to submit their lists of infringed recordings or the court to then consider and decided on the damages that should be due to each label.