Tenenbaum to Pay $675,000

A jury ruled that admitted illegal song sharer Joel Tenenbaum must pay the RIAA $675,000 for 30 songs he shared online. That come to $22,500 per song.

From published reports of the verdict:

That sounds steep but it actually compares favorably to the second verdict leveled against Jammie Thomas-Rasset, who was the first individual ever found guilty of copyright infringement over a peer-to-peer network. The original 2007 verdict against her (damages: $9,250 per song) was thrown out after a mistrial was declared, but in June a new jury found her even more guilty than before, with fines set at a whopping $80,000 per song. In comparison, Tenenbaum is getting off easy.