Constitutionality of RIAA Damages Challenged 360
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "In SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum, the defendant has filed a motion for new trial, attacking, among other things, the constitutionality of the jury's $675,000 award as being violative of due process. In his 32-page brief (PDF), Tenenbaum argues that the award exceeded constitutional due process standards, both under the Court's 1919 decision in St. Louis Railway v. Williams, as well as under its more recent authorities State Farm v. Campbell and BMW v. Gore. Defendant also argues that the Court's application of fair use doctrine was incorrect, that statutory damages should not be imposed against music consumers, and that the Court erred in a key evidentiary ruling."
Let me be the first to express this sentiment. (Score:2, Funny)
Duh.
Re:Good luck on that one (Score:3, Funny)
They obviously need to read RFC2119 then...
Re:Good luck on that one (Score:5, Funny)
The Pirate Bay dot org.
Re:still flogging this old dead horse? (Score:3, Funny)
Much.
Re:still flogging this old dead horse? (Score:1, Funny)
sharing a Britney Spears album
This really isn't helping your argument about the punishment being too harsh.
Re:Good luck on that one (Score:5, Funny)
"Napster's great, you can download all the tracks you were too embarrassed to buy in the shops"
Re:still flogging this old dead horse? (Score:1, Funny)
Sure, he should pay a fine.
One in the order of, say, $675, not $675000.
Under Supreme Court guidelines, it should have been more along the line of $30 or $40.
Given the crappiness of what passes for music these days, the ceiling should have been set at a nickel per song -- and wooden ones at that.
Re:still flogging this old dead horse? (Score:3, Funny)
RIAA/MPAA's classic settlement offer is whatever-you-have plus a dollar
Bull. Their settlement offer is almost always a few thousand dollars, tops.
Wait, they sued someone who could afford that? When did this happen?
Re:Thanks slashdot (Score:3, Funny)
You must be a hit at parties.
Or maybe Model UN conferences.
Re:still flogging this old dead horse? (Score:3, Funny)
He offered $500 to Sony, to my knowledge, and they turned him down and have now succeeded in the big bucks.
Sony needed much more to offset the cost of developing and marketing all their proprietary formats... ATRAC, MiniDiscs, and MemorySticks all took a lot of effort you know.
Re:still flogging this old dead horse? (Score:3, Funny)
Wooden Nickelback?
Re:Good luck on that one (Score:2, Funny)