AfterDawn: Tech news

Supreme Court declines petition from doctorate student sued by RIAA

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 21 May 2012 9:21 User comments (2)

Supreme Court declines petition from doctorate student sued by RIAA The case of Joel Tenenbaum continues.
Tenenbaum, the former doctorate student who was convicted of illegally sharing 30 tracks via P2P has had his Supreme Court petition declined, sending the case back to the district court from which it came.

The alleged pirate was originally fined $675,000 for sharing the tracks, but the fine was reduced to $67,500 in 2010, after a judge deemed the original penalty unconstitutional and "excessive." Seeking an even further reduction, Tenenbaum tried unsuccessfully in 2011 to petition to the district court and actually had his reduction reversed back to $675,000 after the major labels and RIAA appealed.

In this case, the trial will go on, bouncing between appeals.

Says the lawyer defending Tenenbaum (pro-bono): "This is where we feel we're being pushed down a rat hole. The award is lowered but the plaintiffs, the recording companies, are given the option of whether to accept the award or go through another trial. It's like a way of keeping us in litigation forever."



If forced to pay the full fine, Tenenbaum would have to file for bankruptcy protection, says his lawyer.

Previous Next  

2 user comments

125.5.2012 09:37

The RIAA has never collects a dime from any court case. That is the way they like it. They prefer to have the BIG threat. Smarter firms and the real danger to P2P settle for 2-3 K out of court. They process thousands of these a year. These firms have pretty much put an end to business as usual in the P2P world. Most have either stopped or have moved to pay services. In the P2P world even tiny fees have great effect.

225.5.2012 14:44

there but for the grace of God, go many of us.

Comments have been disabled for this article.

Latest news

Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets (06 Jun 2023 9:19)
Roomba Combo j7+ is the very first Roomba model to combine robot vacuum with mopping features. And Roomba Combo j7+ does all that with a very clever trick, which tackles the problem with mopping and carpets. But is it any good? We found out.
Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations (02 May 2023 3:38)
Neato Robotics has ceased its operations. American robot vacuum pioneer founded in 2005 has finally called it quits and company will cease its operations and sales. Only a skeleton crew will remain who will keep the servers running until 2028.
5 user comments
How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp (20 Mar 2023 1:25)
The world's most popular messaging platform, Meta-owned WhatsApp has enabled sending messages to yourself. While at first, this might seem like an odd feature, it can be very useful in a lot of situations. ....
18 user comments
How to Enable Bluetooth on Stadia Controller How to Enable Bluetooth on Stadia Controller (11 Feb 2023 1:04)
Google shut down its streaming game service Stadia late last month and this means that some people have Stadia controllers lying around that seem to be of no use. That is fortunately not the ....
2 user comments
Guide: How to Kick Unwanted Guests from Your Netflix Account Guide: How to Kick Unwanted Guests from Your Netflix Account (26 Jan 2023 2:14)
Sharing a Netflix account with a person in a different location is possible and indeed very common, although the company doesn't necessarily enjoy this behavior from their customers. However, ....

News archive