Jury awards $675K in Boston music downloading case
 

BOSTON (AP) - A federal jury on Friday ordered a Boston University graduate student who admitted illegally downloading and sharing music online to pay $675,000 to four record labels.

Joel Tenenbaum, of Providence, R.I., admitted in court that he downloaded and distributed 30 songs. The only issue for the jury to decide was how much in damages to award the record labels.

Under federal law, the recording companies were entitled to $750 to $30,000 per infringement. But the law allows as much as $150,000 per track if the jury finds the infringements were willful. The maximum jurors could have awarded in Tenenbaum's case was $4.5 million.

Jurors ordered Tenenbaum to pay $22,500 for each incident of copyright infringement, effectively finding that his actions were willful. The attorney for the 25-year-old student had asked the jury earlier Friday to "send a message" to the music industry by awarding only minimal damages.
From AP

I couldn't believe this. It really is quite commical. How many 25 yr old college students have an extra $675k hanging around. I would get a job at the local coffee shop and work there for the rest of my life just to spite them.

I can read that on the headlines myself, BusterB. So what's your point?

Rulings like this are always silly. No one can pay them, they just declare bankruptcy. Big civil fines only ever get paid by corporations, and often not even then.