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Despite RIAA Loss, File Sharers Face Hefty Fines
    #9637597 -

Despite RIAA Loss, File Sharers Face Hefty Fines
By David Kravets EmailJanuary 16, 2009 | 5:11:09 PM


The blogosphere is humming Friday with reports a federal judge is refusing to require the nation's first peer-to-peer admin  convicted by a jury of criminal copyright infringement to pay tens of thousands of dollars in restitution to the Recording Industry Association of America.

As a public service, we thought it was paramount to point out that the ruling is unrelated to the RIAA's file sharing litigation campaign that has ensnared 30,000 individuals and is allegedly winding down.

The decision still means that, under the Copyright Act, individual file sharers sued by the RIAA face up to $150,000 in damages for each purloined music track and a minimum of $750.

The case making the rounds on the blogosphere Friday is about a federal judge taking exception to the RIAA's position that each pilfered download in a criminal copyright prosecution amounts to a monetary loss equal to the retail cost of the download.

"Although it is true that someone who copies a digital version of a sound recording has little incentive to purchase the recording though legitimate means, it does not necessarily follow that the downloader would have made a legitimate purchase if the recording had not been available for free," U.S. District Judge James Jones of Virginia ruled (.pdf) in denying the RIAA's motion to force convicted Elite Torrents admin Daniel Dove to pay tens of thousands of dollars in restitution.

It's a position the courts often recognized when it comes to restitution for software as well.

In September, Judge Jones sent Dove to the slammer for 18 months – probably restitution enough for running a site that allowed thousands of users to trade copyrighted software, music and pre-release movies.

So let's be clear. Dove was convicted as a criminal copyright offender. The RIAA's litigation amounts to civil lawsuits, where the only thing at stake is monetary damages, not civil liberties.

Remember, a federal jury ordered Jammie Thomas to pay $222,000 for the 24 songs she was found liable of infringing in the nation's only RIAA file sharing case to go to trial. A juror said some jurors wanted to ding her the maximum $150,000 per track when they were deliberating the civil trial.

And judges appear unwilling to accept arguments that the Copyright Act's damages provision is unconstitutionally excessive.

"The factors that go into the calculation of restitution are different than the ones that go into the calculation of statutory damages in civil cases," said Fred von Lohmann, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

There are three ways one might become a U.S. criminal copyright offender – even though the federal government rarely prosecutes such criminal offenses.

A criminal copyright offender is one who is pirating for commercial purposes; one who distributes pre-release material, or somebody who distributes more than $1,000 worth of copyrighted works over a 180-day period without the copyright holder's permission, von Lohmann said.


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∞
I am incapable of conceiving infinity, and yet I do not accept finity.
- Simone de Beauvoir -

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Re: Despite RIAA Loss, File Sharers Face Hefty Fines [Re: snoot]
    #9637607 -

Quote:
The decision still means that, under the Copyright Act, individual file sharers sued by the RIAA face up to $150,000 in damages for each purloined music track and a minimum of $750.



:seeya:


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∞
I am incapable of conceiving infinity, and yet I do not accept finity.
- Simone de Beauvoir -

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Despite RIAA Loss, File Sharers Face Hefty Fines [Re: snoot]
    #9637693 -

hahahaha, shit, i'd be in debt millions of dollars


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Every mistake, intentional or otherwise, in the above post, is the fault of the reader.

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Re: Despite RIAA Loss, File Sharers Face Hefty Fines [Re: Penguarky Tunguin]
    #9637719 -

So ridick. :crankey:


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Re: Despite RIAA Loss, File Sharers Face Hefty Fines [Re: HuHEN]
    #9638052 -

I can't believe that's actually happening, it makes me happy they didn't catch me!


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I want to show you life for what it's worth, from beginning to end from when your life was first launched 'till when it descends back to earth. From pyramiding at it's peak 'till when it turns back into dirt..

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