Tenenbaum admitted to pirating the songs during the trial. That admission resulted in the original $675,000 verdict against him.

Joel Harrow, a Harvard University law school student who is representing Tenenbaum in the case today, said that even the reduced amount of $67,500 is grossly inappropriate.

"We think that $67,500 is too much for sharing 30 songs on a file sharing network. He caused minimal harm," Harrow contended.

Tenenbaum's appeal asks the appellate court to consider whether the Copyright Act is an appropriate statute to use in infringement cases involving individuals. The statute provides for penalties of up to $150,000 per violation and was originally conceived as a deterrent against commercial infringers.

Tenenbaum's appeal also challenges the judge's instructions to the jury in the last trial. Harrow said the judge did not adequately inform the jury about its obligation to only consider the facts of Tenenbaum's infringement and not about music piracy in general, he said.