Boston – The Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA) has appealed a federal judge’s reduction of a file-sharing copyright
damages award from $675,000 to $67,500, the Recording Industry vs. the People
blog reports. A jury last year ordered Boston University student Joel Tenenbaum
to pay $675,000 in copyright infringement damages for sharing 30 songs online.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner called that amount
unconstitutionally excessive, and reduced it by 90%.
A similar reduction befell
a copyright infringement damages award of $1.92 million that a jury ordered
defendant Jammie Thomas-Rassett to pay; a federal judge slashed that amount to
$54,000 — although that case appears headed for a new trial on the issue of
damages.
"The court has substituted its judgment for that of 10 jurors as
well as Congress," the RIAA said, in relation to the judge’s reduced
damages in the Tenenbaum case.
"For nearly a week, a federal jury
carefully considered the issues involved in this case, including the profound
harm suffered by the music community precisely because of the activity that the
defendant admitted engaging in."
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/28wpgvw
(Recording Industry vs. the People)
http://tinyurl.com/287socy
(DMW previous coverage)
