Andre Yoskowitz
31 Jul 2009 12:44
Judge Nancy Gertner has ruled against alleged unauthorized file sharer Joel Tenenbaum today, ruling that he is liable for copyright infringement.
Just yesterday, Tenenbaum confessed to illegally sharing 30 tracks through Limewire and other P2P clients and his case now moves to a jury which will determine the size of his penalty. The award can be as high as $4.5 million USD, or $150,000 per track.
"Notwithstanding the protestations of Tenenbaum's counsel, Tenenbaum's statement plainly admits liability on both downloading and distributing, does so in the very language of the statute (no 'making available' ambiguity) and does so with respect to each and every sound recording at issue here," wrote Judge Gertner, via Arstechnica. Tennenbaum had responded "yes" to the question of whether "he was admitting liability for downloading and distributing all 30 sound recordings that are at issue."
Just last month, accused file sharer Jammie Thomas was found to have "committed willful violation" of the copyrights on 24 songs and the jury awarded the RIAA and the media companies $1.92 million USD, equivalent to $80,000 for each song.