October 4th, 2007
What a bargain: $9,250 per song
If this isn’t evidence that copyright law is dangerously out-of-whack here in the United States:
Thomas, an employee of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, an Indian tribe, was ordered to pay a 9,250-dollar fine for each of 24 shared songs cited in the case, including Godsmack’s “Spiral,” Destiny’s Child’s “Bills, Bills, Bills” and Sara McLachlan’s “Building a Mystery.”
It could have been a lot worse.
The fine could have reached 150,000 dollars a song if the jury had found “willful” copyright infringement.
I understand that she needs to pay more than 99 cents (what it might have cost her on iTunes)…but nine grand a piece? That’s a bit like getting a $20,000 parking ticket.
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Posted by Doug
Whew…if only the music industry would realize that ruining a few peoples lives will never stop the self-induced apocalypse of their industry.