Tenenbaum To Appeal Again

The legal saga involving Boston University graduate student Joel Tenenbaum’s illegal file-sharing continued late last month after his legal team—led by Law School Professor Charles R. Nesson—filed a notice that they would further appeal the fine levied against him.

Tenenbaum’s legal team won a victory earlier this summer when U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Gertner slashed Tenenbaum’s fine, but the appeal aims to further reduce that penalty.

Tenenbaum had originally been ordered to pay $675,000 to the Recording Industry Association of America for sharing 30 songs, but Gertner said in a ruling that the fine had been excessive and reduced the penalty to $67,500, or $2,250 per song.

“It definitely is a victory to get a fine reduced by 90 percent. However, it’s still ridiculous to be charged over $2,000 a song when the songs cost 99 cents on iTunes,” Tenenbaum said.

The RIAA, which filed the original suit against Tenenbaum, has also filed notice that it plans to appeal the ruling.

“We had no choice but to appeal the erroneous and unprecedented decision by the district court,” RIAA spokesperson Cara Duckworth said in a statement. “The ruling casts aside a jury verdict squarely within the range established by Congress and clearly supported by the undisputed harm to the recording industry and the egregiousness of the defendant’s conduct.”

The legal proceedings between Tenenbaum and the RIAA have become a symbolic battle between advocates for free flows of information—including the copyrighted variety—and content providers whose profit margins are threatened by file-sharing programs.

“It still comes down to that the songs at most cost the recording industry $21,” Nesson said. “Sixty-seven thousand dollars against a noncommercial kid who didn’t make a profit and didn’t intend to make a profit is still insanity.”

Tenenbaum is not the first file-sharer to be targeted by the RIAA, but by enlisting Nesson, who has mounted a spirited and at times controversial defense, he has made his fight in court an important battleground for the future of copyright law.

The two parties have been engaged in a protracted and colorful legal fight that has included Nesson being reprimanded by the judge and the RIAA seeking an injunction against Tenenbaum for allegedly promoting a file posted on a Swedish file-sharing  service that contained the 30 songs mentioned in the case and was titled “The $675,000 Mixtape.”

—Staff writer Elias J. Groll can be reached at egroll@fas.harvard.edu.