More on the story: http://www.ipbrief.net/2011/04/08/sony-v-tenenbaum-saga-file-sharing-case-makes-its-way-to-first-circuit/
-Mark Nguyen
Sunday, April 10, 2011
P2P Networks: Sony vs. Tenenbaum
There are many cases on Copyright infringement of music downloads. On 2010, Joel Tenenbaum was charged $675,000 by Sony Entertainment. The judge thought it was unconstitutionally excessive, so she lowered to $67500 worth of damages. Mr. Tenenbaum thought the lowered amount was still excessive and that he would have to go into bankruptcy. He filed an appeal to the Court and now the file is in the first circuit of Court of appeals. In my honest opinion, I feel that Tenenbaum is being charged way too much on a case like this. I understand that he committed copy right infringement through peer to peer, but there are tons of people just like him. And charging him $67500 will not deter illegal file-sharing.
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I agree with this, charging this person in an attempt to "make an example" is cruel and ineffective. I think that entertainment, not just music, has been slowly making the move not to free but to independently supported. With the ease of connection offered by P2P technology artist are able to directly deal with their consumers. Slowly the need for the big companies that file these lawsuits will disappear.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the charge is way too much. I heard about a student at NC State that was charged 5,000 dollars for downloading music on campus. That was about 5 years ago. I can't believe they are still chasing people like this. No matter what the fines, people will continue to downoad music illegaly. They just don't think they will get caught.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree, I always thought that the fact that they charged so much for this crime was always extreme. Although most of the instances where a large lump some of money was charged for this is to give an example to others who take part in P2P sharing. At the end of the day, it still doesn't set that much of an example because a lot of people still take part in illegal downloading.
ReplyDeleteThis is a tough argument because I can understand both sides. First off, everyone knows that it is illegal to download or distribute copyrighted material. There is no question of law here. They even have warnings on CDs, movies, software, games, books, ect... telling the user that the unlawful copy or distribution is punishable by law. That being said, it is so common and happens on such a massive scale that when you see 4 or 5 people being charged exuberant amounts of money, it seems extremely unfair. What should happen is the exceedingly high costs should be distributed across the board to all who illegally download. The reality however is that the few people almost randomly selected it seems will have to be made examples in a vain attempt to curb the massive use of P2P file sharing
ReplyDeleteI don't think there is an easy solution to this. because their obviously is a lot of people doing it, and who sets the fines? Are they standard? I doubt it, so there is a risk and bottom line is that if you download music illegally then you might have to face the music! pun intended.
ReplyDeleteHow do you regulate this? This is why the law is and always will be one step behind the innovation of the internet. I agree here but it sounds like a lot to take on and a huge expense for tax payers.
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