Mixed Verdict For MP3tunes

A New York district court handed down a good news-bad news verdict Aug. 22 regarding EMI’s 2007 lawsuit against Michael Robertson and his music storage service MP3tunes.

U.S. District Judge William Pauley III ruled that MP3tunes qualifies for a safe harbor exemption under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, protecting the service from potential wrongdoing by any of its customers.

However, the judge backed up EMI’s contention that MP3tunes and affiliate website, Sideload.com, didn’t do enough to enforce copyrights and should have removed pirated songs from users’ accounts when notified by EMI and other copyright holders, according to the Los Angeles Times.

MP3tunes is reportedly still on the hook for about 350 songs out of the alleged 3,189 songs cited in EMI’s lawsuit. Each violation reportedly carries up to a $30,000 in penalties.