Fine per track proposed to increase from $150k to $1.5 million

A provision in the latest proposed US intellectual property bill, which would have increased statutory fines for online copyright infringement to a maximum of $1.5 million per track has been reportedly removed from the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property (PRO IP) Act.

"A U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee has stripped out a provision in a copyright enforcement bill that would have increased fines for compilation CDs containing pirated music by 10 times or more.

Critics of the original version of the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property (PRO IP) Act had complained that one provision would assess fines for each separate copyright work on a compilation work such as a CD, meaning the fines for a 10-song compilation CD would range from $7,500 to $1.5 million, instead of the current $750 to $150,000. But the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property voted on Thursday to approve an amendment that stripped out the controversial provision."

Interested parties will recall in the autumn of last year a woman who decided to face the RIAA in court was ordered by a jury to pay $222000 for infringing the copyright in 24 songs ($9250 per song). The RIAA at the time suggested she had got away lightly since it could have been $3.6 million at the maximum statutory rate of $150k per song.

Thanks to Michael Geist for the links.