RIAA wins another big verdict in P2P lawsuit

It may be losing badly in the court of public opinion, but when it comes to actual courtroom proceedings, the RIAA continues to rack up the victories.

The latest verdict in its favor has been handed down against Ph.D. student Joel Tenenbaum, who was found guilty of willfully infringing 30 songs and sharing them on the KaZaA peer-to-peer network. Despite the almost circus-like environment of the legal proceedings (in which Tenenbaum's lawyer was sanctioned for his behavior), the jury didn't take long to determine the level of damages against Tenenbaum: $675,000, or $22,500 per song he illegally shared online.

That sounds steep but it actually compares favorably to the second verdict leveled against Jammie Thomas-Rasset, who was the first individual ever found guilty of copyright infringement over a peer-to-peer network. The original 2007 verdict against her (damages: $9,250 per song) was thrown out after a mistrial was declared, but in June a new jury found her even more guilty than before, with fines set at a whopping $80,000 per song. In comparison, Tenenbaum is getting off easy.

Tenenbaum had entered the courtroom with the audicious defense that personal file sharing online was protected by "Fair Use" copyright provisions, which offer certain exemptions to the otherwise rather stringent prohibition against making copies of commercial materials. Tenenbaum's Fair Use arguments were largely denied, and Tenenbaum basically wasn't allowed to introduce that defense in his case. In fact, when he took the stand and was asked directly if he shared the files on KaZaA, Tenenbaum admitted it directly, including the fact that he'd lied about it in his written deposition late last year. In contrast, Thomas-Rasset has always pleaded that she was innocent in the file sharing allegations, though direct and circumstantial evidence has always been heavily positioned against her.

Tenenbaum says if he is pressed to pay the damages, he'll be forced to declare bankruptcy. Appeals and additional motions are pending.