Judge Rejects RIAA Claim Of 'Trillions' Against Limewire
May 24, 2012 at 5:36 AM (PT)

Off The Hook For $72 Trillion

The RIAA's contention that LIMEWIRE owes it trillions of dollars in damages is "absurd," a federal judge has ruled. COMPUTERWORLD.COM reports, "In a scathing ruling filed earlier this month, Judge KIMBA WOOD of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of NEW YORK flatly rejected the industry's claims that LIMEWIRE should pay up to $150,000 for each download of some 11,000 songs included in the RIAA lawsuit."

That would have added up to over $72 trillion dollars in damages.

The RIAA had argued that the file-sharing site LIMEWIRE allowed thousands or even millions of people to illegally download one or more of 11,000 songs. The association contends its members are entitled to statutory damages for every single illegal download.

But the Judge disagreed, ruling the RIAA's position "offends the canon that we should avoid endorsing statutory interpretations that would lead to absurd results," and continued "If Plaintiffs were able to pursue a statutory damage theory based on the number of direct infringers per work, Defendants' damages could reach into the trillions."

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