Anna's Archive Loses $322 Million Judgment in Spotify Piracy Lawsuit

In a lawsuit filed by Spotify and major record labels, Anna's Archive received a default judgment of $322 million.

The defendant did not appear in court, and the operator's identity remains unconfirmed. The judge accepted the plaintiffs' claims almost entirely as presented, with damages calculated based on copyright infringement and DMCA violations.

The claim structure is as follows.

• Warner, Sony, and UMG each claimed willful infringement for dozens of songs, seeking $150,000 per song
• Spotify claimed $2,500 per file for approximately 120,000 files, citing DMCA circumvention of technical protection measures
• The plaintiffs stated that this amount is conservative, and that based on the full 2.8 million files, it could exceed $7 billion

The court issued not only monetary damages but also a worldwide permanent injunction. The target includes 10 domains, including annas-archive.org, and registrars and hosting providers were obligated to block access, preserve evidence, and secure operator identification information.

Additionally, Anna's Archive must submit a compliance report within 10 business days, which must include site and administrator contact information. However, since the operator's identity has not been revealed, actual enforcement is considered unlikely, and the monetary damages are being viewed as effectively an uncollectible paper victory.