Jury Orders File-Swapper to Pay Record Labels $675,000

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 3, 2009 - 7:34am.

Boston - A federal jury has ordered convicted file-swapper Joel Tenenbaum to pay the major record labels $675,000 in damages, after he admitted in court to having shared 30 of their copyrighted songs on file-sharing networks. Tenenbaum, who could have faced damages as high as $4.5 million under the law, will instead pay $22,500 per song shared -- a sum he said will lead him to file for bankruptcy if it stands.

U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner intends to hold a post-trial proceeding where Tenenbaum's attorney, Harvard Law professor Charles Nesson, will argue that the damage awards for copyright infringement are unconstitutionally high.

Tenebaum was only the second person to challenge the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) file-sharing copyright lawsuits in court; the first, Jammie Thomas-Rasset, was found guilty and ordered to pay $1.92 million.

"We appreciate that Mr. Tenenbaum finally acknowledged that artists and music companies deserve to be paid for their work," the RIAA said in a statement.

"From the beginning that's what this case has been about. We only wish he had done so sooner rather than lie about his illegal behavior."

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/om6om (AP)

http://snipurl.com/om77y (Ars Technica)

http://snipurl.com/om7s0 (DMW previous coverage)

http://www.joelfightsback.com