Federal authorities have reduced the copyright-infringement charges against Kevin “Skwerl” Cogill, who posted nine tracks from Chinese Democracy on his blog back in June, to the misdemeanor level in anticipation of the trial starting on Tuesday, according to Wired’s Threat Level blog. There are also rumors that Cogill may strike a deal with the Feds; the prosecutor charged with the case declined to say if that was part of the reason why the charges were reduced, although Threat Level’s look at the difference between the felony copyright-infringement statute and its misdemeanor counterpart may hold a key:

The felony Cogill was charged under requires the authorities to prove the distribution of pre-released, commercial material over the internet for financial gain or commercial advantage.

Under the misdemeanor statute, the authorities must prove copyright infringement of the right of performance, distribution or reproduction accomplished for commercial gain or financial advantage. Using the internet is not required and the material does not need to be pre-release.

Insert your own joke about it being so hard for music blogs to make money that one being thought of as a “for-profit” operation is kind of ludicrous here.

Reduced Charges for Guns N’ Roses Uploader, Deal ‘in the Offing’ [Threat Level]