The RIAA has not tried to prove its actual damages, and has been seeking $750 per song in statutory damages.
This damages theory is being challenged on constitutional grounds in UMG v. Lindor, Maverick v. Goldshteyn, and Elektra v. Schwartz, all in Brooklyn federal court, as well as in Arista v. Greubel and SONY v. Crain in Texas, Virgin v. Morgan in Pensacola, Florida, Interscope v. Korb in Charleston, South Carolina, and others. In Lindor, in the context of a motion for leave to amend the answer, Judge Trager ruled that Marie Lindor's assertion of the defense of unconstitutionality was not frivolous, and noted that while the RIAA could point to no legal authority contrary to its validity, Ms. Lindor had cited both caselaw and law review articles supporting its viability. For an excellent 2004 law review article on the subject, see "Grossly Excessive Penalties in the Battle Against Illegal File-Sharing: The Troubling Effects of Aggregating Minimum Statutory Damages for Copyright Infringement" By J. Cam Barker, 83 Texas L. Rev. 525 (2004)[Copyright Texas Law Review Association 2004][Reprinted with permission]*. Since the Lindor decision, every new answer we have seen filed interposes this defense.


In Virgin v. Morgan the defendant is also challenging the RIAA's damages theory on statutory grounds, based on Section 504(c)(2) of the Copyright Act, which permits the statutory damages to be reduced from $750 to $200 in certain instances of innocent infringement. But see BMG v. Gonzalez, where the Seventh Circuit held that defendant could not avail herself of the 504(c)(2) defense because of the copyright notices on plaintiffs' CD's, even though she hadn't seen the CD's, since she "readily could have learned, had she inquired, that the music was under copyright". (Ed. note: The illogic of Gonzalez cries out for a comment here. I feel that Gonzalez contradicts the plain language, as well as the obvious intent, of the copyright Act, and is inconsistent with the whole principle of copyright notice which permeates the Act. Obviously anyone could "readily" learn, by inquiring, as to the copyright of anything, since copyright registrations are publicly filed in Washington, DC, but the law imposes no such duty. But the decision is from a court of appeals, and therefore has to be taken seriously by practitioners, even those outside of the Seventh Circuit. Hopefully the Seventh Circuit will come to realize its error, and/or other circuit courts will conclude otherwise, and/or the Supreme Court will catch up to this issue.)


*Reprinted with permission of Ray Beckerman from http://info.riaalawsuits.us/howriaa.html updated March 31, 2007.