MP3.com Must Pay Copyright Damages, Judge Says
A federal judge today ordered Internet music provider MP3.com to pay $300,000 to independent music label Tee Vee Toons for copyright infringement.The lawsuit levied at MP3.com was the first by an independent label after five major music firms sued or settled with the site last year.
Tee Vee Toons, New York, asked for $8.5 million in damages in its claim that the San Diego-based Internet music company infringed its rights to 145 songs.
MP3.com stored digitalized tracks from Tee Vee Toons' collection in its computers. The Web site provided access to music from that database, letting its subscribers hear CDs from their personal collections on any computer, as long as they could show they already owned the disc. Subscribers verified ownership by putting the CD into a computer, where MP3.com scanned it.
