Copyright Law

In Arista v LimeWire court rejects RIAA contention it is entitled to statutory damages for each direct infringer

By Ty Rogers and Ray Beckerman

In Arista Records v Lime Group, the Court rejected that RIAA's contention that it is entitled to a separate statutory damages award for each direct infringement induced by LimeWire, holding that adopting that argument would lead to an "absurd" interpretation of the Copyright Act. The Court held instead that the RIAA's recovery would be limited to a single statutory damages award per infringed work. The Court also stated, however, that the number of direct infringers would be a factor in assessing the amount of the statutory damage awards.

March 10, 2011, Decision, rejecting RIAA's statutory damages argument

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Full post as published by Recording Industry vs The People on March 10, 2011 (boomark / email).