A US federal judge ruled yesterday that music swapping resource MP3.com wilfully violated Universal Music Group's copyrighted works and ordered it to pay approximately $118m.
John Geralds in Silicon Valley,
vnunet.com 07 Sep 2000A US federal judge ruled yesterday that music swapping resource MP3.com wilfully violated Universal Music Group's copyrighted works and ordered it to pay approximately $118m.
US District Judge Jed Rakoff said the fine, which equates to roughly $25,000 per CD infringed, was necessary to send a message to the internet community to discourage copyright infringement. MP3.com immediately said it would appeal the ruling.
Judge Rakoff said the fine could go up or down depending on the number of "qualifying CDs" infringed, which he said would be determined during the final phase of the trial in November.
Michael Robertson, chairman and chief executive of MP3.com, said: "We disagree with the court's decision and we look forward to taking our case to the Court of Appeals."
He added that everyone should have the right to listen to the music they buy, even if it is on the internet.
MP3.com was sued over My.MP3.com, a digital locker service which did not require users to upload their music on to a server. Users merely had to prove that they owned a copy of the music they wanted to upload.
Cary Sherman, senior vice president and general counsel of the Recording Industry Association of America, said the ruling "should send a message that there are consequences when a business recklessly disregards the copyright law".
Universal's record companies were the only plaintiff at the trial. The four other major record companies, Time Warner's Warner Brothers music group, Sony Music Entertainment, Bertelsmann AG's BMG and EMI Group, had previously reached settlements with MP3.com.
Hadrian Katz, a lawyer representing Universal, had urged Judge Rakoff to award the record company up to $450m, because MP3.com had copied 5000 to 10,000 of the company's CDs.
"Music is a media and the next infringement may be very different. It may be video or film or it may be something very different," he said.
See also:
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15 Sep 2000The chief executive of music download resource MP3.com vowed that the company would fight last week's court order for it to pay $118m in damages to Universal Music Group.
13 Sep 2000MP3.com accused Universal Music Group of anti-competitive behaviour yesterday as the online music provider continued its court battle to defend claims of copyright infringement.
31 Aug 2000Music swapping company MP3.com has settled its copyright lawsuit with Sony in a move that will require users to show that they have paid for CDs accessed using the service.
22 Aug 2000The music industry has been shaken up by the emergence of MP3-based music websites such as Napster. Critics accuse them of facilitating piracy while advocates say they make it easier for unsigned musicians to have their music heard. We look at what all the fuss is about.
08 Aug 2000
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