BMG Music v. Gonzalez
Encyclopedia
BMG Music v. Gonzalez, 430 F.3d 888 (7th Cir. 2005), was a civil case in which the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
upheld a lower court's summary judgment
that the defendant had committed copyright
infringement
. The decision is noteworthy for rejecting the defendant's fair use
defense, which had rested upon the defendant's contention that she was merely "sampling" songs with the intention of purchasing those she enjoyed at retail.
some 1,370 copyrighted songs onto her computer using the KaZaA
peer-to-peer
file-sharing
software, without authorization from the holders of the copyrights in the underlying compositions and sound recordings. The defendant owned compact disc
s containing some fraction of the songs that she downloaded. The parties disagreed on precisely how many of the defendant's downloads represented songs that the defendant already owned on CD, but it was undisputed that the defendant had never owned authorized copies of 30 of the songs she downloaded. The defendant retained at least these 30 songs on her computer's hard drive even after deciding not to purchase them on CD.
accusing the defendant of copyright infringement. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
agreed with the plaintiffs, and entered summary judgment for the plaintiffs. The trial court rejected the defendant's "fair use" defense. As a remedy, the trial court (1) awarded the plaintiffs $22,500 in statutory damages
(representing the statutory minimum of $750 times the defendant's 30 infringing downloads), and (2) issued a permanent injunction
forbidding the defendant to download copyrighted recordings owned by the plaintiffs.
The defendant appealed to the Seventh Circuit.
's landmark Sony
decision.
Turning to the defense of fair use, the Court of Appeals acknowledged that it was obliged to apply the four statutory factors given in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 for determining whether the defendant's copying of the plaintiffs' works qualified as a lawful "fair use."
Most of these factors, the Court noted, weighed against the defendant:
The defendant argued that downloading songs for the purpose of "sampling" would have a positive effect on the market for those songs, spurring sales of the songs the defendant enjoyed enough to purchase. The Court of Appeals declared that this argument was both factually unsupported and inconsistent with the Supreme Court's recent Grokster
decision and with other cases involving file-sharing and copyright infringement:
Although the copyright holders might indeed benefit if downloaders purchased additional CDs containing songs they had "sampled" and enjoyed, the court continued, "sampling" nevertheless deprived copyright holders of the revenues they might have earned from licensing authorized downloads of their works.
The court also upheld the award of $22,500 in statutory damages against the defendant, noting that this amount represented the minimum award provided under the statute for works (such as the plaintiffs') that had been published with an adequate copyright notice. The court rejected the defendant's argument that the Seventh Amendment
guaranteed her the right to a jury trial as to the appropriate amount of damages. The court reasoned, in essence, that where the plaintiff sought only the minimum amount of damages provided under the statute, there were no disputed issues as to the proper amount of damages for a jury to resolve, and the issue of damages was appropriate for summary resolution. Finally, the court upheld the district court's permanent injunction against the defendant's downloading of copyrighted works.
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the courts in the following districts:* Central District of Illinois* Northern District of Illinois...
upheld a lower court's summary judgment
Summary judgment
In law, a summary judgment is a determination made by a court without a full trial. Such a judgment may be issued as to the merits of an entire case, or of specific issues in that case....
that the defendant had committed copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
infringement
Copyright infringement
Copyright infringement is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works under copyright, infringing the copyright holder's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.- "Piracy" :...
. The decision is noteworthy for rejecting the defendant's fair use
Fair use
Fair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders...
defense, which had rested upon the defendant's contention that she was merely "sampling" songs with the intention of purchasing those she enjoyed at retail.
Facts
Over a period of several weeks, the defendant downloadedUploading and downloading
In computer networks, to download means to receive data to a local system from a remote system, or to initiate such a data transfer. Examples of a remote system from which a download might be performed include a webserver, FTP server, email server, or other similar systems...
some 1,370 copyrighted songs onto her computer using the KaZaA
Kazaa
Kazaa Media Desktop started as a peer-to-peer file sharing application using the FastTrack protocol licensed by Joltid Ltd. and operated as Kazaa by Sharman Networks...
peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads among peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application...
file-sharing
File sharing
File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digitally stored information, such as computer programs, multimedia , documents, or electronic books. It may be implemented through a variety of ways...
software, without authorization from the holders of the copyrights in the underlying compositions and sound recordings. The defendant owned compact disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
s containing some fraction of the songs that she downloaded. The parties disagreed on precisely how many of the defendant's downloads represented songs that the defendant already owned on CD, but it was undisputed that the defendant had never owned authorized copies of 30 of the songs she downloaded. The defendant retained at least these 30 songs on her computer's hard drive even after deciding not to purchase them on CD.
Lower Court Proceedings
Four recording companies who held the copyrights in the songs that the defendant downloaded filed a lawsuitLawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
accusing the defendant of copyright infringement. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois is the trial-level court with jurisdiction over the northern counties of Illinois....
agreed with the plaintiffs, and entered summary judgment for the plaintiffs. The trial court rejected the defendant's "fair use" defense. As a remedy, the trial court (1) awarded the plaintiffs $22,500 in statutory damages
Statutory damages for copyright infringement
Statutory damages for copyright infringement are available under some countries' copyright laws.The charges allow copyright holders, who succeed with claims of infringement, to receive an amount of compensation per work...
(representing the statutory minimum of $750 times the defendant's 30 infringing downloads), and (2) issued a permanent injunction
Injunction
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that requires a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. A party that fails to comply with an injunction faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
forbidding the defendant to download copyrighted recordings owned by the plaintiffs.
The defendant appealed to the Seventh Circuit.
Ruling of the Court of Appeals
The Court of Appeals affirmed the district court's decision in its entirety. The court first reasoned that the copies of the songs that the defendant had downloaded were infringing copies, rejecting the defendant's analogy to the "time-shifting" doctrine enunciated in the Supreme CourtSupreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
's landmark Sony
Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc.
Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 464 U.S. 417 , also known as the "Betamax case", is a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States which ruled that the making of individual copies of complete television shows for purposes of time-shifting does not constitute copyright...
decision.
Turning to the defense of fair use, the Court of Appeals acknowledged that it was obliged to apply the four statutory factors given in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 for determining whether the defendant's copying of the plaintiffs' works qualified as a lawful "fair use."
Section 107 provides that when considering a defense of fair use the court must take into account “(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; (2) the nature of the copyrighted work; (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and (4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.”
Most of these factors, the Court noted, weighed against the defendant:
Gonzalez was not engaged in a nonprofit use; she downloaded (and kept) whole copyrighted songs (for which, as with poetry, copying of more than a couplet or two is deemed excessive); and she did this despite the fact that these works often are sold per song as well as per album. This leads her to concentrate on the fourth consideration: “the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The defendant argued that downloading songs for the purpose of "sampling" would have a positive effect on the market for those songs, spurring sales of the songs the defendant enjoyed enough to purchase. The Court of Appeals declared that this argument was both factually unsupported and inconsistent with the Supreme Court's recent Grokster
MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd.
MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. 545 U.S. 913 is a United States Supreme Court decision in which the Court unanimously held that defendant P2P file sharing companies Grokster and Streamcast could be sued for inducing copyright infringement for acts taken in the course of marketing file sharing...
decision and with other cases involving file-sharing and copyright infringement:
As she tells the tale, downloading on a try-before-you-buy basis is good advertising for copyright proprietors, expanding the value of their inventory. The Supreme Court thought otherwise in Grokster, with considerable empirical support. As file sharing has increased over the last four years, the sales of recorded music have dropped by approximately 30%. Perhaps other economic factors contributed, but the events likely are related. Music downloaded for free from the Internet is a close substitute for purchased music; many people are bound to keep the downloaded files without buying originals. That is exactly what Gonzalez did for at least 30 songs. It is no surprise, therefore, that the only appellate decision on point has held that downloading copyrighted songs cannot be defended as fair use, whether or not the recipient plans to buy songs she likes well enough to spring for. See A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc.A & M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc.A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc., 239 F.3d 1004 was a landmark intellectual property case in which the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the ruling of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, holding that defendant, peer-to-peer ...
, 239 F.3d 1004, 1014-19 (9th Cir. 2001). See also UMG Recordings, Inc. v. MP3.com, Inc.UMG v. MP3.comUMG Recordings, Inc. v. MP3.com, Inc., 92 F. Supp. 2d 349 was a landmark case before Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York concerning the Internet...
, 92 F. Supp. 2d 349 (S.D.N.Y. 2000) (holding that downloads are not fair use even if the downloader already owns one purchased copy).
Although the copyright holders might indeed benefit if downloaders purchased additional CDs containing songs they had "sampled" and enjoyed, the court continued, "sampling" nevertheless deprived copyright holders of the revenues they might have earned from licensing authorized downloads of their works.
The court also upheld the award of $22,500 in statutory damages against the defendant, noting that this amount represented the minimum award provided under the statute for works (such as the plaintiffs') that had been published with an adequate copyright notice. The court rejected the defendant's argument that the Seventh Amendment
Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution, which was ratified as part of the Bill of Rights, codifies the right to a jury trial in certain civil cases. However, in some civil cases, the Supreme Court has not incorporated the right to a jury trial to the states in the fashion which...
guaranteed her the right to a jury trial as to the appropriate amount of damages. The court reasoned, in essence, that where the plaintiff sought only the minimum amount of damages provided under the statute, there were no disputed issues as to the proper amount of damages for a jury to resolve, and the issue of damages was appropriate for summary resolution. Finally, the court upheld the district court's permanent injunction against the defendant's downloading of copyrighted works.
External links
- Full text of the decision from Findlaw.com.
- Promises to Keep: Technology, Law, and the Future of EntertainmentPromises to KeepPromises to Keep: Technology, Law, and the Future of Entertainment is a book William Fisher, Ph.D. wrote. Fisher was a Harvard University Hale and Dorr Professor of Intellectual Property Law and the Berkman Center for Internet and Society Director. Stanford University Press published the book in...
(2004), a book published before the Gonzalez case was decided, included an argument (pp. 116–19) supporting the view that downloading for "sampling" purposes should qualify as fair use. - Selected analysis and commentary on the decision from