BMG Music v. Gonzalez
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
430 F.3d 888 (2005)
Relevant factsFree
Cecilia Gonzalez (defendant) downloaded copyrighted songs from the KaZaA file-sharing network. BMG Music (plaintiff), which owned the copyrights, sued her for infringement. Gonzalez argued she downloaded the songs to sample them before deciding whether to buy, and that she did eventually purchase some songs. She never deleted at least 30 songs she chose not to buy. The trial court rejected her fair-use defense and granted summary judgment to BMG.
IssueFree
Whether the fair-use defense to copyright infringement applies to downloading copyrighted music for free through a file-sharing program in order to decide whether to buy it.
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