Feds, RIAA Ask $22,500 in Damages Per Song

[n2doc]

By David Kravets April 5, 2011 | 6:39 pm |

Do federal judges have the power to reduce jury awards in copyright-infringement cases?

The Obama administration and the Recording Industry Association of America don’t think so. They argued that point Monday before a three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, which has released a 41-minute audio recording (.mp3) of the hearing.

They were urging the circuit to reinstate a $675,000 file sharing verdict that a Boston jury levied against Joel Tenenbaum, the nation’s second defendant to go to trial against the RIAA in an individual file sharing case. U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner reduced the verdict to $67,500 last year.

Both sides appealed, with Tenenbaum claiming it was still too excessive, and the RIAA and government arguing the reduction was an abuse of judicial power.


more

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/04/tenenbaum-appeal/