Copyright Law

Good article in "Computer World" on SONY BMG Music v. Tenenbaum case

By Ty Rogers and Ray Beckerman

Came across a good article by Jay Vijayan of Computer World, about the SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum case:

Target of RIAA lawsuit says music piracy case has been an ordeal
College student Joel Tenenbaum claims trade group wanted to make an example of him
By Jaikumar Vijayan

December 19, 2008 (Computerworld) To hear Joel Tenenbaum's version of the story, at least, it isn't hard to see why the Recording Industry Association of America's campaign against music piracy has earned the RIAA so many enemies ? perhaps contributing to the trade group's decision this week to stop filing lawsuits against people like Tenenbaum.

Tenenbaum, who turns 25 on Christmas day, is a doctoral student in physics at Boston University. He also is involved in a high-profile legal fight with the RIAA for allegedly downloading and distributing songs belonging to several music labels. The recording companies claim to have discovered more than 800 songs stored illegally in a shared folder on Tenenbaum's computer, although the RIAA's case against him only identifies seven of the songs.

The RIAA says that despite its change in strategy, it doesn't plan to drop existing lawsuits. If found guilty of willful copyright infringement, Tenenbaum faces financial penalties that could exceed $1 million dollars ? $150,000 per song, the maximum fine allowed by the federal statute under which he is being sued.

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Full post as published by Recording Industry vs The People on December 19, 2008 (boomark / email).