Joel Tenenbaum, a student at Boston University, USA, accused of copyright infringement for sharing music on Kazaa, was found guilty by the jury and sentenced to pay a $ 675,000 fine (€ 468,996), $ 25,500 for each track (15,628 euros).
The Boston court ruled on Friday, after three hours of deliberation.
Joel «knowingly» broke the law that protects the copyright of the 30 subjects covered by the lawsuit, filed by the RIAA on behalf of four of the top US publishers.
Now it will appeal.
The young man had already confessed on the first day of trial (Thursday) the authorship of about 800 downloads and uploads through «peer to peer» sharing services, such as Kazaa and Napster.
After all, there are about 16 thousand euros per theme, in a total of 30 that made up the process in which the 25-year-old was sentenced.
Much less than the June punishment of Jammie Thomas Rasset, which the court sentenced to a € 1.4 million fine: € 57,000 for each subject.
Regarding the fine, Joel said: «I am disappointed but not surprised.
But I am grateful that it is not much bigger, that there are not millions,» reported the Arstechnica website.
He also added that if the appeal is not served, he will be forced to declare bankruptcy.
RIAA, which represents Sony, Universal, Warner and EMI in this case, was satisfied with the jury’s decision.
«We are grateful for the recognition of the impact of illegal downloading (on the record industry).
We are pleased that Mr.
Tenenbaum has finally recognized that artists and publishers deserve to be paid for their work, we just wish he had done it from the beginning, instead of lying about your illegal behavior, «said a representative of the association, quoted by the same source.
