Thursday, July 30, 2009

The Court leaves all issues, other than copyright ownership, to the jury, in SONY v. Tenenbaum

In SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum, the Court ruled that all issues other than copyright ownership will be left to the jury.

Judge Nancy Gertner: Electronic ORDER entered with respect to Rule 50 motion: The Court will make required findings concerning copyright ownership, but leave all remaining issues -- infringement (reproduction and distribution), damages and willfulness -- for the jury, out of an abundance of caution. The Court does so in part because the statutory damages inquiry obliges the jury to consider some of the same issues as the infringement inquiry, i.e. the nature of the infringement. (Gertner, Nancy)

Commentary & discussion:

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Something tells me that Dr. Nesson selected the jury in a manner that appeared so erratic for this reason ... the decision won't be a rational one, but highly emotive. Based on his questions (what are your views on cannabis?), it would appear Dr. Nesson has played the system-perhaps with guidance from a psychologist-to this end.

In light of that, I'm somewhat hopeful for a comparatively just outcome.