Record Companies Sue Limewire for $75 Trillion

In what might be the most ridiculous demand for damages ever witnessed, various companies in the recording industry are mass-suing file-sharing service Limewire for a total of $75 trillion. Yes, trillion… as in 75 followed by 12 zeros. Does the entire world’s wealth added together even amount to $75 trillion? It’s hard to say, but it wouldn’t be surpassed by much.

The federal district court judge in charge of this case, Kimba Wood, appropriately labeled the request for damages as “absurd”, and who can blame her? On one hand, the recording industry is all for making examples of individuals who pirate music and companies who enable it, but on the other, it seems to be making a total mockery of the legal system by requesting such an exorbitant amount in damages.

Limewire lawyer Joseph Baio noted that the money the companies are pursuing from Limewire would be better spent on things like health care or clearing out the national debt. No kidding! Just what are these companies attempting to prove?

The goal simply could be to prove that the record industry as a whole doesn’t intend on being lenient even in the very least when it comes to piracy. It’s never going to actually see damage requests like this succeed, but it sure can attempt to sue a company for every penny of it’s worth.

“If plaintiffs were able to pursue a statutory damage theory predicated on the number of direct infringers per work, defendants’ damages could reach into the trillions,” she wrote. “As defendants note, plaintiffs are suggesting an award that is ‘more money than the entire music recording industry has made since Edison’s invention of the phonograph in 1877.'”