A webcasting service that provides users with individualized Internet radio stations is not required to pay licensing fees to copyright holders of the songs the service plays, the 2nd Circuit ruled in a closely watched case on Friday. The circuit found that as a matter of law the service that provides the stations, in which content is affected by customers’ ratings, is not “interactive” enough to impose the fees. The 2nd Circuit is the first appellate court in the U.S.

A jury in a high-profile federal copyright infringement trial on Friday ordered a Boston University graduate student to pay $675,000 to several record companies for illegally downloading and distributing 30 of their songs. Joel Tenenbaum appeared stoic as the jury announced that each of the 30 counts of willful infringement would cost him $22,500. Though steep, the tab is far less than the $4.5 million that the companies could have received had the jury imposed the maximum per-song damages allowed under law.