In a previous blog post I talked about the recent case of Sony BMG music v Tenenbaum, where the claimants, Sony BMG music, were awarded $675,000 (roughly £453,000) in damages for the piracy of thirty songs by the defendants by a jury. This is because the US’ Copyright Act allows a jury to award anywhere from $750 to $150,000 dollars per each separate instance of copyright infringement.
I made the point in my previous blog post that I think that this decision is a clear breach of natural justice. It also gave me reason to believe that the legislative branch of the US must be incredibly out of touch with their understanding of digital media to draft such a bill…. or at least I hope they are out of touch and not “influenced” by the entertainment industry’s deep pockets.
Excuse my cynicism, I’ve been watching too much House of Cards on Netflix.
Whatever the reason for the way the Copyright Act was drafted, there is some uplifting news. This past week the German government decided to take action and limit the penalties for peer to peer piracy (which includes torrenting) to a maximum of €1,000 per seperate instance of copyright infringement. First time offenders will be limited to €200. According to this article I found on afterdawn (www.afterdawn.com), the German Jusitice minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger stated that “Some law firms have created a business model out of copyright-violation warnings. It has got out of control”.
I think that €1,000 is a perfect amount. For the record: I’m in favor for any type of penalty which deters people from piracy without implementing unnecessary financial devastation.
Link to article:
http://www.afterdawn.com/news/article.cfm/2013/07/01/germany_limits_p2p_piracy_fines
