Each infringing work in compilation counts for statutory damages.

Plaintiffs appealed a final judgment of the district court in WB Music Corp. v. RTV Communication Group, Inc. [Nos. 04-3890, 04-3892, 04-3901 (2d Cir. 04/19/2006)]. The plaintiffs-appellants, music publishers that own copyrights in musical compositions, sued the defendants-appellees for copyright infringement. The three complaints in the cases on appeal alleged that the two corporate defendants made and distributed copies of seven compact disc (CD) products containing songs that infringed the plaintiffs-appellants' copyrights in 13 musical works. When the defendants defaulted, the district court entered default judgments that referred the cases to a magistrate judge for a hearing on damages.

At the hearing, the plaintiffs elected to recover statutory damages as provided by 17 U.S.C. [section] 504(c). The magistrate judge concluded that defendants' infringement was willful, allowing the recovery of increased statutory damages, and he then computed the amount of recommended statutory damages with reference to copyright case law.

The plaintiffs argued that the magistrate judge had erroneously interpreted copyright law in computing the amount of statutory damages, but the district court disagreed and adopted the magistrate judge's report in its entirety. Plaintiffs appealed.

The Second Circuit first explained that the version of the statutory damages law that governs this appeal provides that:

 
   [t]he copyright owner may 
   elect ... to recover ... an award 
   of statutory damages for all 
   infringements involved in the 
   action, with respect to any 
   one work, for which any 
   one infringer is liable individually, 
   or for which any 
   two or more infringers are 
   liable jointly and severally, in 
   a sum of not less than $500 
   or more than $20,000 as the 
   court considers just. For the 
   purposes of this subsection, 
   all the parts of a compilation 
   or derivative work constitute 
   one work. 

[17 U.S.C. [section] 504(c)(1)(1994)].

Subsection (c)(2) raises the maximum statutory damages award to $100,000 when, as the district court did here, "the court ...