Illegal File Sharing Case Poses $675,000 Question For Supreme Court

[steve2470]

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/342409/20120517/supreme-court-filesharing-joel-tenenbaum.htm?cid=2&google_editors_picks=true

Joel Tenenbaum has said the recording industry wants to make an example out of him, a cautionary tale for teens about the dangers of illegally downloading and sharing music.

For downloading 30 songs, Tenenbaum is staring down a $675,000 jury award for the Recording Industry Association of America -- a sum that would make any file sharer think twice before downloading that Lady Gaga single.

Tenenbaum, a 20-something a physics Ph.D. and a researcher at Boston University, believes the six-figure jury award is not just "outlandish," but unconstitutional as well.

He asked the U.S. Supreme Court in February to review his case, a decision the justices will have made Thursday when they held their conference. The decision is usually made public early in the week following a conference.

[Lawlbringer]

1. I'd love to know how they came to that number.

By how many people, in turn, downloaded from him? Unless that's the calculation they used, anything else is super-exorbitant and nonsensical.

[jp11]

2. It is some kind of voo doo magic that they can't share with us for fear of losing their

super secret technology that loses them more customers than these kinds of lawsuits and general greedy behavior do already.

[Princess Turandot]

3. It's set in statute to some degree...

in a sum of not less than $750 or more than $30,000 as the court considers just.

http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html#504

I believe that's per each offense. The article says the jury set the amount.