According to Friday reports, yet another 'legal' victory has come Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) way - with the Judge Nancy Gertner of the US District Court for Massachusetts pronouncing Boston University student Joel Tenenbaum guilty of 'willful copyright infringement.'

The federal jury has ordered Tenenbaum to pay the recording industry a fine of US$675,000 for his illegal downloading and distribution of 30 copyrighted songs.

As per Ars Technica reports, Judge Gertner had instructed the federal jury to charge Tenenbaum a fine between $750 and $30,000 for each of the songs that he downloaded and distributed. The jury finalized a $22,500-per-song fine for the Boston student.

The jury verdict in the music piracy case came after a short trial that began on Monday. It was under direct questioning that Tenenbaum confessed about having illegally downloaded and distributed the songs.

The RIAA had initiated the copyright infringement lawsuit against Tenenbaum in 2007, claiming to have discovered over 800 illegally downloaded songs in a shared folder on Tenenbaum's computer. However, the case only focused on a representative section of only 30 songs.

Meanwhile, commenting on Judge Gertner's ruling, and saying that the verdict was "ridiculous, but not surprising", Ray Beckerman, a New York-based attorney for numerous clients in RIAA lawsuits, noted: "She has historically given many favorable rulings to the RIAA, more than any other judge in the country!"