A federal judge has issued a default judgement against the shadow library known as Anna’s Archive, ordering the entity to pay $322 million for scraping and distributing copyrighted music from Spotify. The ruling comes after the operators failed to respond to the lawsuit, resulting in significant financial penalties for direct copyright infringement, breach of contract, and DMCA violations.
Lawsuit Origins and Court Ruling
The legal action was initiated in January by Spotify alongside the music industry's "Big Three" labels: Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony Music Entertainment. The plaintiffs sued the shadow library following its announcement to create the world's first music preservation archive. According to reports, the group scraped 256 million rows of track metadata and 86 million audio files with the intention of distributing them via BitTorrent and P2P networks.
Judge Jed S. Rakoff sided with the plaintiffs, issuing the hefty fine as a default judgement. The court found that Anna’s Archive displayed a "blatant disregard" for legal orders. Despite a preliminary injunction issued to prevent the release of copyrighted files, the library allegedly released songs via 47 separate torrents on February 9.
Financial Breakdown and Enforcement
Of the total $322 million penalty, Spotify is set to receive approximately $300 million, while the three major record labels will share over $7 million in damages. However, it remains uncertain whether the plaintiffs will be able to collect these funds, as the operators of Anna’s Archive remain anonymous.
In addition to the financial penalties, Judge Rakoff has ruled that internet service providers must disable access to Anna’s Archive websites. The order further prohibits other websites from hosting or distributing the scraped files.
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