Boston – Oral arguments were heard yesterday in the first
file-sharing case to reach a federal appeals court, as Joel Tenenbaum continued
to fight for a further reduction of the $67,5000 in damages he was ordered to
pay for sharing songs online, the Boston Globe reported.
Tenenbaum was found
guilty of copyright infringement by a jury in 2009, and ordered to pay $675,000
in damages for sharing 30 songs.
A federal judge last year found that award to
be excessive, and reduced it to $67,500.
A three-judge panel of the First
Circuit Court of Appeals will now consider Tenenbaum’s attorneys’ arguments that
the damages award is "unconstitutionally excessive," and based on a
law that was never meant to target individual consumers.
Meanwhile, record
labels represented by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) are
arguing that jury’s original higher damages award should be re-instituted.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/3dcj9ph
(Boston Globe)
http://tinyurl.com/3czgfjf
(TorrentFreak)
