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Judge okays $675K fine in P2P suit; also criticizes file-sharing lawsuits

Judge Nancy Gertner signed off on Joel Tenenbaum’s $675,000 required payment to the Recording Industry Association of America as compensation for the 30 songs he illegally downloaded and shared.

However, Gertner said she cannot constitutionally rule against Tenenbaum’s right to promote his actions, according to a Dec. 7 Boston Globe article.

“The word ‘promote’ is far too vague to withstand the scrutiny of the First Amendment,” she said. “Although plaintiffs are entitled to statutory damages, they have no right to silence defendant’s criticism.”

Though she ruled in favor of the RIAA, Gertner also expressed concern over the level of penalties that the recording industry can seek in her final ruling.

“The Court, deeply concerned by the rash of file-sharing lawsuits, the imbalance of resources between the parties, and the upheaval of norms of behavior brought on by the internet [sic], did everything in its power to permit Tenenbaum to make his best case for fair use,” she wrote in her ruling, posted on The Docket, the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly’s newsblog.

She wrote that judicial policies on file sharing should not be so set in stone.

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