MP3.com to pay copyright damages
By Larry Neumeister
Associated Press
NEW YORK — A jury ordered MP3.com to pay a small music company $300,000 in damages for copyright infringement.
The verdict yesterday came in a case brought by a small independent record company, Tee Vee Toons, which had sought $8.5 million in damages.
The president of MP3.com said the verdict was still a victory for his company.
"Open season is over at MP3.com," MP3.com president Robin Richards said outside the courtroom immediately after a jury of eight women announced the verdict in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Richards said the verdict was important because it came from a jury, not a judge.
"We were pleased to finally have an opportunity to have this case heard by a jury who represents the sentiment of the American consumer," he said.
Tee Vee Toons filed a lawsuit May 24, several weeks after Judge Jed S. Rakoff concluded that MP3.com had intentionally violated the copyrights of the major music companies when it allowed consumers to have access to unlicensed music.
Several lawsuits were filed after MP3.com created an online catalog of 80,000 CDs for its My.MP3.com listening service. The service allows customers to hear CDs from any computer once they prove they own them by inserting them into a computer.
Last year, MP3.com agreed to pay $53.4 million to Universal Music Group as testimony began in the damages phase of a Manhattan trial.
It settled for tens of millions more with other four large record companies, Warner Music Group, BMG, EMI and Sony Music Entertainment — and arranged licensing deals with each of them.
MP3.com, based in San Diego, has said it set aside $170 million for settlements in the cases brought against it.
Michael Elkin, a lawyer for Tee Vee Toons, said he was pleased that the jury awarded $50,000 of the roughly $300,000 for a single work: "Television's Greatest Hits."
He said the jury's findings "in no way" set a precedent for other cases.
MP3.com lawyer Jeff Conciatori said the company would insist upon a jury hearing all remaining copyright cases against MP3.com.
"Hopefully, this will send a message to others," he said. "It's not going to be easy to come to court and have a jury award excessive windfall damages, which I think it what these companies are seeking."
