Copyright Law

Court enters judgment in SONY v Tenenbaum

By Ty Rogers and Ray Beckerman

In SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum, the Court has entered judgment.

In addition to the monetary award fixed by the jury, the Court also granted some, but not all, of the injunctive relief requested by the RIAA.

Additionally, the Court set briefing schedules for post-judgment motions, and for motions for fees and sanctions.

The Court also issued a ruling explaining its reasoning for dismissing the fair use defense, which (a) indicated that there might be many scenarios under which fair use would be a defense to an RIAA vs. End User p2p file sharing case, and (b) criticized -- at length -- the defendant's lawyer's behavior.

Decision granting in part, denying in part, plaintiffs' motion for permanent injunction
Judgment
Order Scheduling Post-Judgment Motions
Order Scheduling Attorneys Fees and Sanctions Motions
Decision explaining ruling striking fair use defense

[Ed. note. Since the defendant "admitted liability" there really was no legal issue for the Court to decide other than (a) the scope of injunctive relief, (b) the excessiveness of the statutory damages award, and (c) the constitutionality of the statutory damages award. As the Court's ruling indicates, issues (b) and (c) remain open and are expected to be the subject of further briefing. Additionally, the issues of attorneys fees and sanctions are likewise open, and expected to be the subject of further briefing. -R.B.]

Commentary & discussion:

p2pnet.net
p2pnet.net
LA Times
Heise Online (German)

Keywords: lawyer digital copyright law online internet law legal download upload peer to peer p2p file sharing filesharing music movies indie independent label freeculture creative commons pop/rock artists riaa independent mp3 cd favorite songs intellectual property portable music player

Full post as published by Recording Industry vs The People on December 07, 2009 (boomark / email).