Student Ordered to Pay $675,000 for Illegal Downloads

[Gary Triplett]

Friday, July 31, 2009
Associated Press

BOSTON — A federal jury on Friday ordered a Boston University graduate student who admitted illegally downloading and sharing music online to pay $675,000 to four record labels.

Joel Tenenbaum, of Providence, R.I., admitted in court that he downloaded and distributed 30 songs. The only issue for the jury to decide was how much in damages to award the record labels.

Under federal law, the recording companies were entitled to $750 to $30,000 per infringement. But the law allows as much as $150,000 per track if the jury finds the infringements were willful. The maximum jurors could have awarded in Tenenbaum's case was $4.5 million.

Jurors ordered Tenenbaum to pay $22,500 for each incident of copyright infringement, effectively finding that his actions were willful. The attorney for the 25-year-old student had asked the jury earlier Friday to "send a message" to the music industry by awarding only minimal damages.

Tenenbaum said he was thankful that the case wasn't in the millions and contrasted the significance of his fine with the maximum.

"That to me sends a message of 'We considered your side with some legitimacy,"' he said. "$4.5 million would have been, 'We don't buy it at all."'

He added he will file for bankruptcy if the verdict stands.

Tenenbaum's lawyer, Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson, said the jury's verdict was not fair. He said he plans to appeal the decision because he was not allowed to argue a case based on fair use.

The case is only the nation's second music downloading case against an individual to go to trial.

Last month, a federal jury in Minneapolis ruled that Jammie Thomas-Rasset, 32, must pay $1.92 million, or $80,000 on each of 24 songs, after concluding she willfully violated the copyrights on those tunes.

The jury began deliberating the case Friday afternoon.

After Tenenbaum admitted Thursday he is liable for damages for 30 songs at issue in the case, U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner ruled that the jury must consider only whether his copyright infringement was willful and how much in damages to award four recording labels that sued him over the illegal file-sharing.

In his closing statement Friday, Nesson repeatedly referred to Tenenbaum as a "kid" and asked the jury to award only a small amount to the recording companies. At one point, Nesson suggested the damages should be as little as 99 cents per song, roughly the same amount Tenenbaum would have to pay if he legally purchased the music online.

But Tim Reynolds, a lawyer for the recording labels, recounted Tenenbaum's history of file-sharing from 1999 to 2007, describing him as "a hardcore, habitual, long-term infringer who knew what he was doing was wrong." Tenenbaum admitted on the witness stand that he had downloaded and shared more than 800 songs.

Tenenbaum said he downloaded and shared hundreds of songs by Nirvana, Green Day, The Smashing Pumpkins and other artists. The recording industry focused on only 30 songs in the case.

The music industry has typically offered to settle such cases for about $5,000, though it has said that it stopped filing such lawsuits last August and is instead working with Internet service providers to fight the worst offenders. Cases already filed, however, are proceeding to trial.

Tenenbaum testified that he had lied in pretrial depositions when he said his two sisters, friends and others may have been responsible for downloading the songs to his computer.

Under questioning from his own lawyer, Tenenbaum said he now takes responsibility for the illegal swapping.

"I used the computer. I uploaded, I downloaded music ... I did it," Tenenbaum said.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,535948,00.html?test=latestnews#ixzz1YRhGzzmu

[Gary Triplett]

Published September 19, 2011
FoxNews.com

Follow-up...

Music Fan Owes $675,000 for Illegal Downloads, Court Rules

Enjoy that song: It'll cost you.

In 2009, a Boston jury downgraded a ruling against Joel Tenenbaum for illegally downloading music files from $675,000 to just $67,500, deeming the original penalty "unconstitutionally excessive."

Not so fast, an appeals court has ruled.

On Friday, following pleas for further leniency from Tenenbaum and indignant filings from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), a federal appeals court revisited the ruling -- and decided Tenenbaum ought to pay.

“We affirm the finding of liability against Tenenbaum and in favor of plaintiffs,” U.S. Circuit Chief Judge Sandra Lynch said in the written opinion released Friday -- reinstating the $675,000 judgment against Tenenbaum, a 28-year-old graduate student pursuing a physics PhD at Boston University.

A spokesman for the RIAA did not respond to FoxNews.com requests for comment.

"We're pls'ed the crt agreed that the finding of liability was correct and that the d crt erred in finding the verdict unconst," wrote Jonathan Lamy, senior vice president of communications for RIAA, on Twitter.

Tenenbaum's lawyers argued that federal copyright laws and the Digital Theft Deterrence Act were not meant to target consumers. Lawyers representing the recording industry argued that the economic impact of illegal downloading is much greater than the sharing of one song.

The case ultimately came down to one of constitutionality, according to the ruling. The appeals court determined that original judge Nancy Gertner did not have the power to reduce damages in a copyright trial.

There's one ray of hope for Tanenbaum, however: an open question about just how the Copyright Act is being applied.

"This case raises concerns about application of the Copyright Act which Congress may wish to examine," it reads.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/09/19/music-fan-owes-675000-for-illegally-downloading-music-court-rules/#ixzz1YRiLvV7S