Judge Cuts Penalty In P2P Sharing Case

July 9th, 2010

This may sound like a good thing for someone. I guess it may be for the person that originally got fine $675,000 for illegally downloading and sharing THIRTY songs.

Judge Nancy Gertner on Friday cut the damage award to $67,500 — three times the statutory minimum — and said the new amount “not only adequately compensates the plaintiffs for the relatively minor harm that Tenenbaum caused them; it sends a strong message that those who exploit peer-to-peer networks to unlawfully download and distribute copyrighted works run the risk of incurring substantial damages awards.”

Everything about these cases are a failure. The damages are outrageous. Nobody is losing any money. The people that share these files never would have bought them in the first place. They may go to a concert though. Nobody that is stealing music is ever gonna be able to afford to pay these fines. It just doesn’t do anything except lead them towards a natural treatment for depression and bankruptcy.