................................. To leave Commie, hyper to http://commie.oy.com/commie_leaving.html ................................. ===================================================================== THE INDUSTRY STANDARD'S M E D I A G R O K A Commentary on What the Press Is Reporting and Why ===================================================================== | http://www.thestandard.com | Wednesday, June 20, 2001 MP3.com's Math Problem Remember the MP3.com jury in New York that couldn't handle long division? It announced a list of damages against MP3.com in April, but accidentally said "$3,125" when it meant "$31,250." Result: a $292,000 ruling that was supposed to be closer to $3 million. Two months later, a federal judge decided the math mistake should result in a new trial. The second round of reportage this week shed more light on how twelve otherwise competent people - including a math teacher - blew it in the case brought by TVT Records. The calculations were left to one juror who did the computing on her Palm, and nobody double-checked. It turns out your algebra teacher was right to make you save your scratch paper, because one of the other jurors produced a sheet of paper with the original, intended $2.9 million-or-so calculation on it. Math teachers everywhere are probably smug that doing it by hand, in this case, yielded better results than a calculator. (Bloomberg called the gadget a "handheld computer" and others referred to a "Palm Pilot" - a specific model of Palm, not a generic term, but now we're nitpicking.) "While it seems likely that the scratch paper showing a total award of $2,918,098 is accurate, only the juror producing it affirmatively testified that this was the precise amount agreed to, and the court concludes that this is an insufficient basis on which to correct the verdict," said the judge who presided over the original case. "Accordingly, the only reasonable alternative is to re-try the case." Use a pencil next time, jurors. - Jen Muehlbauer New Jury and Trial Ordered in Copyright Case Against MP3 (New York Law Journal) http://www.law.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?pagename=law/View&c=Article&cid=ZZZHGEYC6OC&live=true&cst=1&pc=5&pa=0&s=News&ExpIgnore=true&showsummary=0 New trial ordered in MP3.com suit (Inside.com) http://www.msnbc.com/news/589767.asp Federal Judge Declares Mistrial In MP3.Com Case, Cites Bad Math http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB992982141467490658.htm (Paid subscription required.) Jury's Math Mistake Brings Mistrial in MP3.com Copyright Case http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?ptitle=Technology%20News&s1=blk&tp=ad_topright_tech&T=markets_bfgcgi_content99.ht&s2=ad_right1_technology&bt=ad_position1_technology&middle=ad_frame2_technology&s=AOy_45RWPSnVyeSdz Copyright 2001 Standard Media International
