* Leading the coalition of artist is film producer and founder of FilmOn.com, Alki David and Mike Mozart

* Lime Wire LLC and Lime Group LLC is also named as defendants with CBS Interactive and CNET in the lawsuit.

MUMBAI: Music and Film artist have sued CBS Interactive Inc. and CNET Networks Inc. for mass-scale copyright infringement today in Los Angeles federal court  This lawsuit is based on Networks direct participation in copyright infringement on peer-to-peer ("P2P") systems, such as LimeWire, which is used to copy and distribute songs, films and other artistic works.

LimeWire has been found liable for copyright infringement on a virtually unprecedented scale and has been enjoined from further infringing activities by a New York federal court. As alleged in lawsuit, CBS Interactive and CNET have acted as the main distributor of LimeWire software and have promoted this and other P2P systems to profit from wide-scale copyright infringement.

Internet users have downloaded more than 220 million copies of LimeWire software from these defendants' website since 2008, which is 95 percent or more of all copies of LimeWire that were downloaded until LimeWire was shut down by Court Order  Defendants' website also has been a major source for other P2P software applications, including FrostWire with 32 million downloads.

Leading the coalition of artists in the suit are Alki David, film producer and founder of FilmOn.com and Mike Mozart, a YouTube commentator who has documented in detail on the site CNET's participation in copyright piracy on an enormous scale.

David says, "Illegal file sharing through LimeWire has caused enormous damage to everyone who is trying to make a living in the entertainment community. My ultimate hope is that this lawsuit will ensure that huge corporations like CBS Interactive and CNET do not profit from these wrongful activities at the expense of hard-working artists."

Many other artists like Detron Bendross of 2 Live Crew, Rome, Diamond Blue of Pretty Ricky, Trisco Smith from Force MDs and Coldhard representing conflict are plaintiffs in the case with Alki David.

David adds, "Many more artists are currently expected to join in this lawsuit, which we believe ultimately will become one of the most significant copyright precedents to protect artists' rights in history."