RIAA Sues Israeli Online Service

The Recording Industry Assn. of America, which represents the five largest record labels, has sued IMesh.com, an online service that lets computer users share songs over the Internet.

The industry trade group filed its copyright infringement lawsuit Thursday in federal court in Manhattan, accusing the Tel Aviv-based company of helping computer users copy and distribute copyrighted works.

The suit comes as the industry tries to stem more than three years of falling sales that analysts attribute to piracy and the failure of record companies to spur demand for their product. The music industry this month sued 261 people who it said distributed songs online.

IMesh called the lawsuit “ill-informed.”