JUDGE SAYS TRIAL NECESSARY FOR MP3.COM

After ruling on Friday that a trial is necessary before determining whether MP3.com acted willfully when it infringed on the copyrights of the major music labels by creating a database of 80,000 CDs for a streaming music service without their permission, Judge Jed Rakoff today determined that any royalty damages will be disbursed on a per-album rather than a per-song basis.

Rakoff, who sits on the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, has set a tentative trial date of Aug. 28.

His decision on the structure of the damages is widely seen as a victory for MP3.com, which faced a numerically staggering and virtually infinite payment process if Rakoff had gone in the other direction.

Although all five major label groups sued MP3.com, EMI Recorded Music, Warner Music Group and BMG Entertainment have already settled with the San Diego-based company, as hitsdailydouble.com readers know from the reports we have broken. Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group remain as plaintiffs.

The settlements followed after Rakoff issued a partial summary judgment against MP3.com in April, stating that the company did not have the right to copy CDs without authorization so that it could stream the music on the discs to users who already owned them. The judge said that this "allegedly positive impact"—referring to any benefits MP3.com's service may be providing consumers—didn't give MP3.com the right to "usurp a further market that directly derives from reproduction of the plaintiffs' copyright works."

The judge has not been favorable to MP3.com's arguments since making this initial decision. In rejecting the music service provider's request to certify an interlocutory appeal, he wrote in May that, "[the] Defendant's copyright infringement was clear, and the fact that it was clothed in the exotic webbing of the Internet does not disguise its illegality."