For sharing 24 songs [earlier]. A range of reactions: Ray Beckerman (believes case is headed for third trial), Max Kennerly (absurdly high damage awards happen more often when jury distrusts truthfulness of defendant), Amy Alkon (“Stealing from really, really rich people is still stealing”), Ron Coleman and more (case should prompt a reexamination of issue of statutory damages).
One Comment
Damages… well, given that online (legit) downloading services charge about $1.00 per song, it follows that the damages (rationally calculated) would be $1 for every instance of those songs being downloaded from his account. It might be as much as a thousand or two, at most. There is no way the actual loss sustained is in the millions.