The RIAA is asking for $75 trillion in damages from LimeWire for illegal file sharing and copyright infringement. Judge Kimba Wood has called the damage amount “absurd” and contrary to copyright laws.
Using a formula that multiplies the number of users involved by the number in infringements the total amount demanded by the RIAA could vary anywhere from $400 billion to $75 trillon.
"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,´" Manhattan federal district court judge Kima Wood said.
