Student Tenenbaum’s File Sharing Fine Goes Official

Tenenbaum must pay several record labels a total of  $675,000 USD according to a court ruling a few months ago

Joel Tenenbaum - one of the victims of the record industry's greed

Remember the copyright infringing case of student Joel Tenenbaum? We covered the case earlier this year when Joel after being ferociously targeted by the record industry was found guilty by a jury of making available 30 copyright protected songs on P2P networks and fined $675,000 USD.

Now, a few months later, Judge Nancy Gertner has made it all official by signing off on the ridiculously large fine but again pointed out that the damages paid to the music industry are far from being fair.

“As it made clear previously, the Court was prepared to consider a more expansive fair use argument than other courts have credited—perhaps one supported by facts specific to this individual and this unique period of rapid technological change. For example, file sharing for the purposes of sampling music prior to purchase or space-shifting to store purchased music more efficiently might offer a compelling case for fair use,” Gertner highlighted. “Likewise, a defendant who used the new file-sharing networks in the technological interregnum before digital media could be purchased legally, but who later shifted to paid outlets, might also be able to rely on the defense,” she added.

But Tenenbaum had probably already made up his mind since the first ruling and will declare bankruptcy (the fine still has to be ruled constitutional on January 5th).

The companies rewarded through the Joel’s fine are Universal ($292,500) Warner ($225,000), Sony BMG ($112,500) and Arista ($45,000).