Mistrial Called in TVT Suit Against MP3.com

TVT Records said a court has declared a mistrial in its copyright infringement suit against online music company MP3.com Inc., in which it was awarded a wrong amount of damages.

In April, the federal judge who presided over the trial said he was considering what to do about an almost $300,000 copyright infringement verdict awarded against MP3.com after jurors told him their math was wrong and they had intended a figure of several million dollars.

MP3.com hailed the verdict as a victory because TVT was seeking $8.5 million for the illegal copying of about 145 of its copyrighted works. Later, at least two of the eight jurors contacted U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Los Angeles and said the amount should have been in the range of $2 million to $3 million.

Rakoff told lawyers at a hearing on the matter that the jurors apparently omitted a zero when assessing the damage amount for the majority of works involved. Instead of $3,125 for each of about 75 works, the damage award should have been $31,250 per work.