Image via CrunchBase
That’s how much Joel Tenenbaum has to pay for the 30 songs he illegally downloaded and shared over the KaZaA peer-to-peer network.
After a brief deliberation, a federal jury has ruled that PhD student Joel Tenenbaum willfully infringed on the record labels’ copyrights, awarding them $675,000 in damages, $22,500 for each of the 30 songs in question. The figure is closer to the $222,000 award in the first Jammie Thomas-Rasset trial than the $1.92 million figure from the second trial.
The verdict came down at late Friday afternoon after less than three hours of deliberation.
Image via CrunchBase
On the stand, the 25 year old Tenenbaum admitted to everything, even lying during a previous deposition. Was honesty the best policy? The award could have been much more, though it’s hefty enough that Tenenbaum will have to file for bankruptcy if it stands. And there are other cases waiting in the wings, with approximately 18,000 individuals targeted by the labels. Tenenbaum is the second to go to trial, and the second to lose. That means 18,000 people are feeling pretty nervous right now.
We’ve seen Radiohead and other artists find new ways to market their music. Is the RIAA taking the right approach here? Is $22,500 a song too high a price to pay?
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