Musician sues Apple, Amazon, and CD Baby for more than $5.2 billion

A South Carolina man has sued Apple, Amazon, and CD Baby for more than $5.2 billion dollars over copyrighted sound recordings and artwork. Plaintiff Roland Chambers, in a court filing to the South Carolina District Court, claimed he provided CD Baby with five compact discs featuring 12 original copyrighted sound recordings and two pieces of artwork for the album cover. Chambers stated he gave CD Baby the materials “on or about July of 2001.”

The laws surrounding IP can certainly be absurd, and the ever-extending copyright term has turned the phrase “for a limited time” into a joke in search of a punchline. But there’s nothing so absurd as those who take these laws into their own hands, find a lawyer willing to represent fools and pursue supposed infringement in court. “Roland Chambers from South Carolina has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Apple, Amazon and CD Baby over 12 original pieces of copyrighted sound recordings and two pieces of original artwork for the album cover. Chambers is looking for Apple to pay the larger amount. In total, the plaintiff is seeking an insane amount of over 5.2 billion dollars.”