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FSF Asks to File Amicus Brief in Sony v. Tenenbaum (as text)

By Pamela Jones et al.

FSF, with Ray Beckerman serving of counsel, have asked to file an amicus brief in the Sony v. Tenenbaum case. I thought you'd like to read it. The plaintiffs oppose the motion, and Tenenbaum supports it. So that means the court will decide if the amicus will be accepted or not.

The purpose of the brief is this:

We are submitting this brief to bring to the Court's attention some of the growing body of authority suggesting that the State Farm/Gore due process test applicable to punitive damage awards is likewise applicable to statutory damages, and in particular bars the suggestion that each infringement of an MP3 file having a retail value of 99 cents or less may be punishable by statutory damages of from $750 to $150,000 -- or from 2,100 to 425,000 times the actual damages.1

So it's more support for the concept of proportionality and asking the court to consider the Constitutionality of statutory damages in copyright cases involving noncommercial individuals.

Full post as published by Groklaw on March 21, 2009 (boomark / email).