Court Ruling Could End P2P Music-Download Lawsuits (NewsFactor)

[Jorge]

NewsFactor - A federal court has dealt a body blow to the recording industry's efforts to sue people who use peer-to-peer software to download music from the Internet. In fact, says one copyright lawyer, the P2P decision could mean the end of the Recording Industry Association of America's litigation strategy.

More... (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20080430/tc_nf/59547)

[HelenaP]

Oh, happy day.

[El Comandante]

"Damages of $750 per song will also be held unconstitutional, Beckerman predicted, since the actual lost profit when a song is copied is about 40 cents. In cases where restaurants and bars have played music without paying royalties, damages have been limited to no more than four times actual damages, Beckerman said."

This would be the real victory. I cannot imagine a court upholding fines of 9k per song like the Thomas case. These damages are clearly punitive and not based on actual damages.