[Publius Valerius]

More like two or three years, but that's precisely my point. Look: $675,000 in damages for 30 songs is $22,500/song—and that's on the high side of the statutory damages range (the cap is $30,000/work).

Unless I'm MegaCorp—and I am suing only to make a point (like the RIAA)—what copyright owner is going to take his chances in multi-year litigation to recover a lousy $22,000 per work?

Disney and other corporate defendants know this and use it to their advantage. The statutory damage range for infringed works should be in the millions, not capped at $30,000. Congress should be giving copyright owners adequate incentive to bring lawsuits against infringers. As it is, people can infringe with impunity knowing that there is very little repercussions for doing so.

[a fool in paradise]

The people COLLECTING royalties for licensed plays are collecting a hell of a lot more than the $0.30 checks paid to the artists. Even Steve Martin recently bitched about it.