The Judge In the case of Universal Music Group vs. Marie Lindor has granted the motion to allow the defendant to argue against the constitutionality of the $750-per-song statutory penalty established in the Copyright Act. Opening the door to a fight that, if won, would help to break down the mechanics of the RIAA's campaign against individual P2P users.

In his ruling Judge Trager asserted that "[P]laintiffs can cite to no case foreclosing the applicability of the due process clause to the aggregation of minimum statutory damages proscribed under the Copyright Act." Which, is pretty heavily veiled in legalese. The long and short of it is, the RIAA isn't going to be allowed to stand on statute and ask for $750/song, and rather will have to fight to either prove that $750/song is a reasonable number or, show and argue for actual damages if rejected otherwise.

For Lindor's part, her attorney Ray Beckerman has asserted and filed affidavit showing the RIAA's actual losses at 70 cents per recording, which would make the statutory damages under the Copyright act a whopping 1,071 times the actual monetary damage suffered by the recording industry.

Expect this to get hot. The RIAA's entire settle-or-sue strategy -- which forces the defendant to either admit wrongdoing and pay up or spend a far larger sum of money to defend themselves -- rests on the ability to claim $750-per-song in damages. Without that legal black cloud to hold over the heads of accused file-sharers, the RIAA's lawsuit campaign becomes significantly less potent.

[via Recording Industry vs. The People]