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."
Comments
Post a Comment