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Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Supreme Court could take its first RIAA file-sharing case


The US Supreme Court is weighing in on the first RIAA file sharing case to reach its docket, requesting that the music labels’ litigation arm respond to a case testing the so-called “innocent infringer” defense to copyright infringement.

The case pending before the justices concerns a federal appeals court’s February decision ordering a university student to pay the Recording Industry Association of America $27,750—or $750 a track—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 $7,400—or $200 per song. That’s an amount well below the standard $750 fine required under the Copyright act.

Supreme Court could take its first RIAA file-sharing case

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Still, the fine is way too high & the law only picks on those individuals that cannot defend themselves.

Anonymous said...

There was a segment a few months ago on www.unregularradio.com about the RIAA. My understanding is that this was resolved with the RIAA coming to agreement with ISPs to flag high bandwidth accounts. Besides, most bands give away their music for free these days as a promotional tool. Real fans will go out and buy the packaging.