Grooveshark copyright violations ‘willful,’ judge says before trial

By Andrew Chung NEW YORK (Reuters) – Online music streaming service Grooveshark could potentially have to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to major record labels after a U.S. judge ruled ahead of its trial starting on Monday that Grooveshark’s copyright violations on nearly 5,000 songs were “willful” and made “in bad faith.” U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa, who will preside over the trial in federal court in Manhattan, said in a court order on Thursday that because of Grooveshark’s actions he will tell jurors they can choose to award the statutory maximum of $150,000 in damages per song

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