yes, but the jury is set a "range" within which the fine is lega, no? As in, a jury cannot declare death penalty on speeding and is also given a recommendation by the judge? or am I wrong? (I really dont know)
about "something being wrong with the system:"
let me try to show you an example of what I mean
lets start with your statement that "piracy will not stop". I agree. Everything which follows is a result of that thought.
I think on a small scale, you will also agree to the consequences I personally draw from that:
I (as a recording artist) assume that people will copy my work anyway. I still want to distribute my music. I have two options
a) I try to go to court with the people who illegally took my work. This incriminates my customers, so I think its not a smart thing to do. After all, I want them to stay my customers for a long time.
b) I try to leverage the fact that my music has been copied so many times. I think this is the better choice, as it will not alienate me from my customers. I organize a party where my music is played or where I perform (with a door charge of course), I offer that anyone can bring a copy of my CD and for 2.50€ I sign it for them (I actually think this would work :-D).
As a small recording artist, I believe option b) to be 100% preferable. It is also preferable over having nobody stealing my music on the internet, as my music would never have become popular enough to do the event I described without file sharing. I see it as a win-win situation.
(this is actually almost a real life example. I recently figured out, that an old band of mine has become quite popular in poland, for reasons beyond my comprehension (enabled by illegal file sharing). Right now I am contemplating what to do about it.)
I think on the small scale my reasoning is obvious and there is little to dispute on that. On a large scale, I believe that we would all be better off if the creative industry also would find creative solutions to the problem of piracy.
I am not saying piracy is the creative industries fault.
Does that clear my standpoint up a bit, when I talk about "there is something wrong with the system" ?