RIAA ‘statutory damages’ argument trashed?
p2pnet view RIAA:- The final brief (PDF) filed by the defendant Joel Tenenbaum in SONY BMG Music Entertainment v Tenenbaum seems to put the final nail in the coffin on the RIAA’s argument that ‘statutory damages’ up to $150,000 can be awarded where the record company’s lost profit is in the neighborhood of 35 cents.
Not only do Tenenbaum’s lawyers accurately describe the applicable caselaw and scholarship, something neither the RIAA nor the Department of Justice did in their briefs, but they point out to the court that the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit — the appeals court controlling this matter — has itself ruled statutory damages awards are reviewable for due process considerations under the guidelines of State Farm v. Campbell and BMW v Gore.
The brief is consistent with the amicus curiae brief filed in the case last year by the Free Software Foundation.
Ray Beckerman - Recording Industry vs The People
..… and identi.ca
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
February, 2010
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February 21st, 2010 at 11:27 am
The Statutory Damages fiasco is what happens when:
a. Legislator are more concerned about getting elected again (the reason Congress looks like a home for the elderly) than to serving the people. Of course some money from the devil lobbies is helpful by that money is not free. It buys the soul.
b. Judges and lawyers get so tangled up in confusing and contradictory laws and jurisprudence.
c. When lawyers sell their should to their clients who sell drugs, kill people, commit fraud and foolishly sue their innocent customers. Their motto is “anything for money…to hell with justice”.
While the Joel Tenenbaum in SONY BMG Music Entertainment v Tenenbaum appeal (nice legal work) will help, new victims of the system will continue to appear by the thousands, daily. Most victims cannot afford the system, so….
Nothing short of a revolution will untangle and fix this.
Certainly not a dysfunctional (using their own words) congress.
February 21st, 2010 at 1:52 pm
“Nothing short of a revolution will untangle and fix this.
Certainly not a dysfunctional (using their own words) congress.”
That’s definitely true. (jumps in a tank) Now let’s go!