Copyright Law

Working paper by Prof. Samuelson on Copyright Act statutory damages argues Gore due process test applicable to statutory damages

By Ty Rogers and Ray Beckerman

Thanks to Prof. Michael Scott, of Southwestern Law School, for bringing this paper to our attention, through his always informative Twitter persona, CopyrightLaw:

A working paper coauthored by noted copyright law scholar Prof. Pamela Samuelson of the University of California Law School discusses, in depth, various issues regarding statutory damages under the Copyright Act.

Among other things, the paper concludes that the State Farm/Gore due process test is applicable to statutory damage awards under the Copyright Act, a position which is consistent with the position taken in the amicus curiae brief filed by the Free Software Foundation in SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum, and inconsistent with the positions taken by the Department of Justice in Tenenbaum and in SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Cloud

The complete working paper is available for download online, in *pdf format, at the excellent Social Science Research Network, at the following URL:

"Statutory Damages in Copyright Law: A Remedy in Need of Reform, by Pamela Samuelson and Tara Wheatland

Keywords: lawyer digital copyright law online internet law legal download upload peer to peer p2p file sharing filesharing music movies indie independent label freeculture creative commons pop/rock artists riaa independent mp3 cd favorite songs intellectual property portable music player

Full post as published by Recording Industry vs The People on April 10, 2009 (boomark / email).