The wheels of the legal system turning as they do, often news of key copyright infringement arrives several years after the original lawsuit.
Such is the case with hip-hop mixtapes site Spinrilla, which was hit by a RIAA-coordinated lawsuit in the US early in 2017, although in March this year the site countersued the industry body claiming that it was sending “false takedown notices”.
However, the latest ruling in the original case is bad news for Spinrilla: US District Court judge Amy Totenberg has ruled that it IS liable for direct copyright infringement, as the labels were arguing.
That’s a summary judgement in their favour which in theory paves the way for maximum statutory damages of $150k per infringed work – with 4,082 recordings cited in the case, that’s potentially a huge bill.
There’s no guarantee that the maximum damages will be awarded, however, and there’s still scope for a settlement.
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