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A comment on Thomas verdict: willful infringement, $1.92 million penalty. Parent comment

Re:Thomas verdict: willful infringement, $1.92 million penalty by fatdog789 on Thursday June 18, 2009 @07:25PM (#664331)
Punitive damages are not meant to be proportionate. They are meant to be penal, and to "send a message" to other potential tortfeasors. (Civil trial for damages = tort).

However, SCOTUS has ruled very recently that punitive damages must be proportional to the income and assets of the defendant, for example, $1M is nothing to Bill Gates but is beyond devastating to the average man.

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Re:Thomas verdict: willful infringement, $1.92 million penalty by greendestiny on Thursday June 18, 2009 @07:40PM (#664354)
I'm not sure I've seen the justice in using people as examples. The compliance of others isn't their problem. Awards being relative to income make sense for fines, and I guess thats what these punitive damages are.

This behavior of record companies makes it hard for geeks like me who don't support the abolishment of copyright. I think the worst that should happen in cases of copyright infringement of music is a several hundred dollar fine total, not per song.

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