RIAA's Tenenbaum Verdict Cut From $675k To $67.5k

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "In SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum, the Court has reduced the jury's award from $675,000, or $22,500 per infringed work, to $67,500, or $2,250 per infringed work, on due process grounds, holding that the jury's award was unconstitutionally excessive. In a 64-page decision (PDF), District Judge Nancy Gertner ruled that the Gore, Campbell, and Williams line of cases was applicable to determining the constitutionality of statutory damages awards, that statutory damages must bear a reasonable relationship to the actual damages, and that the usual statutory damages award in even more egregious commercial cases is from 2 to 6 times the actual damages. However, after concluding that the actual damages in this case were ~ $1 per infringed work, she entered a judgment for 2,250 times that amount. Go figure." That $2,250 per infringed work figure should look familiar from Jammie Thomas-Rassett's reduced damages judgment — $54,000 for 24 songs.

Comments

[disclaimer: I am aware of microbreweries, TVM]

[Hognoxious]

You pay >100x more for toner than you do for the same amount of beer.

If you live in the US, the toner not only contains 100x more alcohol but tastes 100x better.

Re:[disclaimer: I am aware of microbreweries, TVM]

[Anonymous Coward]

You aren't very good at reading titles, are you?

Re:Amateur Lawyers

[NewYorkCountryLawyer]

You quoted from the summary. The summary was written by NewYorkCountryLawyer, who is (if I remember correctly) an actual lawyer.

Unfortunately, you are right about that. I probably should have been a computer programmer, but I was a little intimidated by those tall machines with whirring wheels and punch cards, which they had in those days.

Re:What difference does it make?

[Joe Snipe]

One thing to keep in mind: The RIAA cannot afford to keep trying these cases if they keep getting such paltry sums. The lawyers alone are expecting to earn more than that.