Supreme Court Won’t Hear RIAA File Sharing Case

[n2doc]

By David Kravets November 29, 2010 | 1:35 pm | Categories: RIAA Litigation, intellectual property
The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to hear the first Recording Industry Association of America file sharing case to cross its desk, in a case that tested the so-called “innocent infringer” defense to copyright infringement.

The case, which one justice voted to hear (.pdf), leaves undisturbed a federal appeals court’s decision in February ordering a university student to pay the Recording Industry Association of America $27,750 for file-sharing 37 songs when she was a high school cheerleader.

The appeals court decision reversed a Texas federal judge who, after concluding the youngster was an innocent infringer, ordered defendant Whitney Harper to pay just $7,400, or $200 per song. That’s an amount well below the standard $750 fine required under the Copyright Act for each violation.

Harper is among the estimated 20,000 individuals the RIAA has sued for file-sharing music. The RIAA had decried Harper as “vexatious,” because of her relentless legal jockeying.


more

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/11/innocent/

[arcane1]

1. Potentially stupid question: why even $200 per song?

What damages can they claim beyond the purchase price of the song itself? Lawyer fees? :shrug:

[Orrex]

2. Well, if it's considered a fine, does it even need to relate the plantiff's monetary loss?

[AlabamaLibrul]

5. Registered copyright. You can get punitive damages if the copyright is registered

as opposed to original creation copyright, which you have when you make anything.

[Merlot]

3. How come libraries can loan out books?

New release books in the library means the author/publishing house won't get royalties. The libraries don't make any profit on the books they loan.

If someone downloads a song, but doesn't profit from it what's the difference?

[Sinistrous]

6. I have wondered precisely that.

The difference does not register in my addled brain.

[KansasVoter]

4. The RIAA at one point were against MP3 players like the IPOD.....

it is really a criminal association. The law suits are nothing but legalized extortion.