KaZaA User Who “Sampled” and Kept 30 Downloaded Tunes Must Pay $22,500 in Statutory Copyright Damages

Case: BMG Music v. Gonzales (7th Cir. 12/9/05 - No. 05-1314)

The One Sentence Summary: Downloading and keeping copyrighted songs was not a fair use, and summary judgment of the minimum amount of statutory damages per song was proper.



Seventh Circuit Holdings:

• Downloading copyrighted songs onto a computer hard disk was not a fair use despite a claim that the defendant was only sampling the songs.


• There was no basis to reduce the amount of statutory damages below the minimum amount of $750 per work. Although 17 U.S.C. § 504(c)(2) allows a reduction of damages if the defendant was not aware that the work was copyrighted, this reduction is not available if the works were marked with notice of copyright. The works downloaded by defendant were marked with notice on the originals, even if the data that defendant downloaded was not, so an innocent infringer defense was not available.


• The grant of summary judgment against the defendant for an award of the minimum statutory damage of $750 for each of 30 copyrighted works was proper. There was no factual question for resolution by a jury where infringement was established and the plaintiff sought only the minimum statutory damage award per work. The defendant was not entitled to a jury trial to seek jury nullification of the minimum amount of statutory damages.