How many mp.3 songs did Jesse Jordan have on his computer to have to
pay the RIAA $12,000 in fines?

Hi there desertguy!

According to this article, Jesse Jordan's software was making
available between 600,000 and 1 million MP3s, most if not all of which
were illegally copied:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-05-04-students_x.htm

It isn't clear exactly how many MP3s Jesse Jordan had on his personal
computer, but a ballpark figure is available, taken from the initial
complaint by Atlantic Recording Company et al. If you read point 4 of
the "Nature of the Action" section, you will read:

"Defendant is acutely aware of the infringing activity occuring
through his system since he himself is copying and distributing
hundreds of sound recordings over his system without the authorization
of the copyright owners."

(From: http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/riaa/arcojordan40303cmp.pdf
)

So on a personal level, it's more on the order of hundreds, rather
than thousands.

I hope this answers your question. If anything's unclear, though,
please feel free to request clarification before rating this answer!

All the best,

--seizer

Search strategy:

jesse jordan
jesse jordan complaint
RIAA mp3s
jesse jordan full text

desertguy,

If you're asking this question for comparison purposes, something to
bear in mind is this:
The fine was not based on a "per song" amount. In future prosecutions,
the number of illegal mp3s will not necessarily bear any specific
relation to the amount of the fine levied. Thus, the next person to be
prosecuted might only have 1/3rd as many illegal mp3s, and still be
fined 3 or 4 times the amount Jordan was fined.

Given the fact that Jordan and his supporters essentially thumbed
their noses at the court system after he received more than enough
donations from webizens to cover his fine, the courts may very well
decide to come down a LOT harder on the next person they prosecute.

Regards,

aceresearcher

something important to keep in mind here is that the courts in fact
DID NOT fine this person any amount of money. the case never went to
trial, nor did anyone make a judgement. In fact, the accussed admitted
no wrongdoing, and the settlement reflects that.

What in fact happened, is that the defendant did not feel he could
defend himself against the lawsuit and reached a settlement with the
RIAA and agreed to pay them $12,000 in exchange for shutting down his
site and them dropping the case against him.

If the RIAA asks for more next time, it is unclear if the future
defendants will give in to the RIAA. If the RIAA asks for too much
money, it becomes more economically feasible to mount a counter suit
against the RIAA and also defend against their lawsuit.

The fact that the defendant had possesion of pirate mp3s probably put
him on weak legal ground to defend against a lawsuit. The penalty for
having those mp3's would be much greater than $12,000 if he was found
guilty. The thing the RIAA got mad about was his search engine, and if
he weren't holding pirate mp3's, he could have probably defended
against the RIAA lawsuit sucessfully.