Judge finalizes $675,000 RIAA piracy verdict against college student
Joel Tenenbaum is a 25-year old graduate student at Boston University pursuing a physics PhD. Like many of us, he loves music. In fact, Joel loved music so much that he just couldn’t stop himself from downloading 30 songs from popular P2P sites such as Napster and Kazaa back in 2003. Shortly after these nefarious downloads, Joel received a certified letter from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) accusing him of (gasp!) downloading music, and pleasantly directing him to settle the issue for a mere $3,500. He picked up his phone and called the RIAA payment hotline, proposed a $500 compromise, and sent a money order in that sum. Although seemingly generous at $16 a track, that offer was later denied.
Four years later, a complaint showed up on his doorstep requiring that Joel appear in court. Rather than retreating and settling like the other 30,000 people targeted by the RIAA, Joel elected to stand up to the RIAA legal powerhouse with only the help of his mother.
The only other accused music downloader to go to trial against the RIAA was Jammie Thomas-Rasset. The RIAA won a massive $1.92 million verdict against the Minnesota woman this summer for sharing 24 songs on Kazaa.
The conclusion of the trial was predictable if you consider the other 30,000 cases, but tragic nonetheless. After all, powerful, multinational corporations dominate the music industry. These corporate titans brought Joel to court in hopes of settling for a large monetary penalty, which would then deter other college kids from downloading music. We may never know why Joel was targeted by the recording industry. Certainly, he was no guiltier than thousands of other online music fans.
When Joel’s case came before Judge Nancy Gertner in the District of Massachusetts, she recommended that Professor Charles Nesson think about taking it. Yet even an intelligent and accomplished professor from Harvard Law School didn’t stand a chance against the legal warlords in the recording industry.
The final judgment at the trial, $675,000 against the young downloader, seemed both disappointing and ridiculously unwarranted to Nesson. Judge Gertner signed off the jury's damage amounts, which means that Sony BMG is entitled to $112,500, Warner Bros. gets $225,000, Arista Records gets $45,000, and Universal receives $292,500.
“I got my ass kicked pretty well in this trial.” Yet Nesson is still confident that the case was a good opportunity to make a stand. “What Joel did in downloading and sharing songs was what just about every kid in his generation did and which I bet a great many of you did.”