A federal judge has officially placed graduate student Joel Tenenbaum on the line for $675,000 USD, the fine he was given by a jury after being found guilty of sharing 30 unauthorized songs via P2P networks.
Judge Nancy Gertner signed off on the damages, meaning Universal gets $292,500, Warner gets $225,000, Sony BMG gets $112,500 and Arista gets $45,000.
Despite signing off on the giant fine, Judge Gertner once against expressed concern over the “astronomical penalties” available to copyright holders, and noted that Tenenbaum missed out on an opportunity to shape the future of fair use laws.
“As it made clear previously, the Court was prepared to consider a more expansive fair use argument than other courts have credited—perhaps one supported by facts specific to this individual and this unique period of rapid technological change. For example, file sharing for the purposes of sampling music prior to purchase or space-shifting to store purchased music more efficiently might offer a compelling case for fair use. Likewise, a defendant who used the new file-sharing networks in the technological interregnum before digital media could be purchased legally, but who later shifted to paid outlets, might also be able to rely on the defense,” says Gertner.
Tenenbaum has said he will declare bankruptcy leaving the record labels with nothing if the fine is ruled constitutional on January 5th.
Result for: sony bmg
A New York appeals court has ruled in favor of Yahoo this weekend, claiming its Launchcast Internet radio service is not required to pay royalties to copyright holders for songs it plays. The losing party was Sony BMG Music.
The claim by Yahoo was that Launchcast did not give users enough controls to be considered “an interactive service,” which would require the royalty fees to be paid.
The judges added that Yahoo would only have to pay licensing fees to SoundExchange, the nonprofit organization that collects royalties for musicians.
“It’s an immediate loss for the recording industry,” notes Rey Sanchez, chairman of the department of music, media and industry at the University of Miami and a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, via Reuters.
“If the service had been deemed interactive, Yahoo would have to negotiate fees with every record label to use their songs. Instead, it only has to pay licensing fees.”
Sony declined comment while Yahoo said nothing more than that they were pleased with the “fair” ruling.
Result for: sony bmg
Sony has announced that the on-demand video service VidZone is now available for free for European PlayStation 3 owners.
VidZone currently runs the service from their own independent website, and is has deals with Sony BMG, EMI and over four thousand independent labels. The service on the PS3 will be ad-supported and will allow gamers to stream over 25,000 music videos and “behind-the-scenes commentaries.”
“VidZone is not just about giving music fans access to thousands of music videos, but offering a completely interactive and personalised music experience,” says VidZone CTO Michael Russo.
The VidZone application is available for download via the PS Store and will allow users to create playlists, save a video library, or select any individual video from the catalog.
“Music has always been popular on PS3 and now VidZone is set to transform the way we view music videos by letting you completely tailor your experience and is just one more reason for PS3 to be the most valued player in your living room,” concluded Isabelle Tomatis, hardware and platforms marketing manager at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.
The app will be available in the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, German, Spain and Australia.
