Bon Jovi Got Sued For $400 Billion!

Bon Jovi must be having a big headache right now, just like the big numbers they face on a lawsuit against them.

Rock band Bon Jovi are being sued for an extravagant $400 billion after an American musician filed a lawsuit accusing the band of plagiarism. According to court documents who was filed last Thursday (10/9), Massachusetts-based musician Samuel Bartley Steele alleges the group of copied lyrics from his 2004 song. The song is titled “(Man I Really) Love This Team”, used as the anthem for his hometown’s baseball team, The Red Sox.

On his version on how it happened, Steele said that the group’s frontman and lead singer Jon Bon Jovi might heard the song while campaigning for U.S. Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry in 2004. Then, Jon used its lyrics to create the band’s hit song “I Love This Town,” which was later used as a promotional track for Major League Baseball, during the 2007 MLB Playoffs and again for the 2008 postseason. Steele calls the rocker’s composition an “unauthorised derivative version” of his song in the federal suit.

“I Love This Town” is track number 12 on the band’s latest album, Lost Highway, released last June. The tenth album was described by Jon Bon Jovi as “a Bon Jovi album influenced by Nashville”, the album influences the band’s rock sound with that of country music. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, becoming Bon Jovi’s first ever album to debut at #1 and their third album to reach that position after “Slippery When Wet” (1986) and “New Jersey” (1988). It was also nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2008 Grammy Awards.

The court document also stated what Steele wanted, “As intent will be easy to prove, we are seeking the statutorily authorised amount of $100,000 per CD sold. Just under 4 million CDs have been sold to date. This totals almost $400 billion.” Now that’s one big priced lyrics, alright! No comment from Bon Jovi’s camp yet, but we will following the case’s progress. Stay tune!

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