Re: Reuters: Damages of $1.9 million could backfire on music industry

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Pam Samuelson <pam () ischool berkeley edu>
Date: June 21, 2009 12:38:05 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] Re:   Reuters:  Damages of $1.9 million could  
backfire on music industry

Statutory damages were originally designed to provide some  
compensation to copyright owners when it was difficult, impossible or  
too expensive to prove monetary damages for injuries arising from  
infringement.  To deter willful infringers, Congress created a new  
higher level for statutory damage awards when infringement was  
willful.  The RIAA's case against Ms. Thomas is an example of a jury  
award for statutory damages that is difficult to square with the  
Supreme Court's due process precedents.  A recent article argues that  
statutory damages in copyright law are in need of reform.  It explains  
how some reform is possible through judicial interpretation of the  
existing statute in light of the due process jurisprudence, but also  
suggests that statutory reform is probably needed.  The article can be  
found at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1375604.





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