And what about the people THEY sent it to and the people THEY sent it to and the....get the idea? If I send an email with a file attached to 50 people and they pass it on to 50 people EACH that’s 2500 people who have the song and if THEY in turn pass it on to 50 people each that’s 125,000 people that now have ILLEGALLY taken this artists work without payment to the artist.
What was done here is EXACTLY the way to stop this sort of thing. Your way of charging triple damages or about $3.00 is no deterrent at all since the chances of getting caught are well worth the small penalty.
Would have, could have, what if, in my mind (I’m no lawyer) are no substitute for actual proof of damages. “Hard to prove” and low actual damages are not an argument for out of proportion jury awards.
Triple damages for each file downloaded by the defendant is a just award in these cases. The defendant should pay legal fees of the plaintiff as well.