LimeWire on Monday filed suit in New York against the largest record companies in the music industry, accusing them of anti-competitive behavior. It was a response to a lawsuit filed by 13 record companies against LimeWire, claiming that it encourages piracy and demanding US$476 million in damages.

According to IDG News, the lawsuit says, in part, that the record companies "have engaged in these unfair business practices for the specific purpose of eliminating sources of decentralized peer-to-peer file sharing and acquiring a monopoly over digital distribution of commercially valuable copyrighted music and movie content."

Among other things, LimeWire says that record companies have colluded on licensing rates to harm independent music sellers, and that the industry hasn't allowed them to use the filtering software they developed to help prevent illegal downloads. Instead, record companies have hawked their preferred filtering system, iMesh, which is the only one sanctioned by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America). In addition, a top iMesh executive is a former RIAA leader.

LimeWire, which wants a jury trial, named Arista Records, Atlantic Recording, BMG Music, Capital Records, Electra Entertainment Group, Interscope Records, Laface Records, Motown Record Company, Priority Records, Sony BMG Entertainment, UMG Recordings, Virgin Records America and Warner Bros. Records as the defendants in its lawsuit.