File-Sharing Judge: Copyright Act Creates 'Deep Potential for Injustice'

U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Gertner, who presided over the recent file-sharing lawsuit brought against graduate student Joel Tenenbaum, has joined the roster of critics who are asking Congress to reform copyright law. "As this court has previously noted, it is very, very concerned that there is a deep potential for injustice in the Copyright Act as it is currently written. It urges -- no implores -- Congress to amend the statute to reflect the realities of file sharing," Judge Gertner wrote in a decision issued Monday. "There is something wrong with a law that routinely threatens teenagers and students with astronomical penalties for an activity whose implications they may not have fully understood."