After a six-month pause, the trial of UMG vs. Escape Media resumes today with a jury in place to set damages after a ruling of copyright infringement last September. Escape Media is the parent company of Grooveshark.
In the September ruling, the judge summarized a black-and-white case: “Escape was directly liable for the infringing uploads of its employees, because the record included uncontroverted evidence that defendants instructed their employees to upload copyright protected music onto Grooveshark.”
Grooveshark employees are not on trial, but the company co-founders are, and have been found personally liable for their own documented infringements.
The judge will give the jury a range of potential damage verdicts. There is a statutory ceiling on the financial damage that can be set for this type of copyright infringement, and it is $150,000 per piece of music. With nearly 5,000 tracks in evidence, Grooveshark is facing a potential penalty of $736-million.