$675,000 RIAA File Sharing Verdict Is ‘Unreasonable’
The nation’s second file sharing defendant to challenge the Recording Industry Association of America at trial is asking the court for a retrial, or to reduce the $675,000 verdict the jury levied for infringing 30 songs.
Among other claims, lawyers for defendant Joel Tenenbaum asserted Monday this summer’s verdict was unconstitutionally excessive. The essence of the argument is that a penalty of $22,500 a song is simply too big, it shocks the conscience and it’s “obviously unreasonable.”
But that argument is a long shot at best. A similar one is pending in the Jammie Thomas-Rasset litigation, the nation’s first file sharing case. In that case, a Minnesota jury decided last summer that she should pay $1.92 million for 24 songs.
