DID CBS-OWNED COMPANY PEDDLE PIRACY SOFTWARE?

In a case that is growing increasingly bizarre, FilmOn founder Alki David, whose own attempt to offer the programming of the major networks online was shot down in court, is trying a new tack: he’s suing the CBS-owned CNET.com over its distribution of millions of copies of the Limewire file-sharing software. Limewire was one of the most popular file-sharing systems used by online pirates until it was effectively put out of business by the courts last year. On Tuesday, TheMusicVoid.com reported that David’s lawsuit has brought to light the fact that CNET co-founder and former CEO Shelby Bonnie was serving on the board of directors of Warner Music at the same time that Warner Music and other media companies were suing LimeWire for copyright infringement. In other words, the lawsuit indicates, Bonnie was sitting on the board of one company, Warner Music, that was suing another company whose software — allegedly 95 percent of it — was being distributed by CNET, the company he founded, had sold to CBS and was then presiding over as CEO. The lawsuit alleges that CBS executives were well aware that Limewire was being “used overwhelmingly to infringe when they first partnered with LimeWire and other P2P [peer-to-peer] providers, but ignored it in exchange for a steady stream of income.”