The parties to a major copyright infringement case settled the appeal on June 17, 2005 after it was argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Virginia, but before the court issued any decision. WLF had filed a brief in the Court last year seeking to overturn a massive jury award of approximately $20 million in punitive fines against Legg Mason simply because a Legg Mason employee forwarded electronic copies of a copyrighted financial newsletter to other employees. WLF argued that the punitive fines, although within the statutory range provided by the copyright law, were nevertheless grossly excessive, and that the fines did not comport with constitutional and procedural standards.