RIAA ’statutory damages’ argument trashed?
The final brief (PDF) filed by the defendant Joel Tenenbaum in SONY BMG Music Entertainment v Tenenbaum seems to put the final nail in the coffin on the RIAA’s argument that ’statutory damages’ up to $150,000 can be awarded where the record company’s lost profit is in the neighborhood of 35 cents.
Not only do Tenenbaum’s lawyers accurately describe the applicable caselaw and scholarship, something neither the RIAA nor the Department of Justice did in their briefs, but they point out to the court that the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit — the appeals court controlling this matter — has itself ruled statutory damages awards are reviewable for due process considerations under the guidelines of State Farm v. Campbell and BMW v Gore.
The brief is consistent with the amicus curiae brief filed in the case last year by the Free Software Foundation.
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