BOSTON (AP) — A lawyer for a graduate student ordered to pay four music companies a combined $675,000 for downloading and sharing songs online has asked a federal judge to reduce the penalty or order a new trial.

Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson said in court Tuesday that Joel Tenenbaum only caused the companies to lose a total of $21 when he failed to pay 99 cents charged online for each of the 30 songs in question.

Tenenbaum, a Boston University student from Providence, R.I., admitted to downloading music and was penalized in July of violating copyright rules for downloading songs between 1999 and 2007.

His lawyers appealed against the “severe” and “oppressive” damage award, asking that it be reduced to 99 cents for each song.

The recording labels have described Tenenbaum as a “hardcore” infringer.

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Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.boston.com/globe