Last September, Minnesota woman Jammie Thomas was convicted of sharing 24 unauthorized tracks via P2P and was told to pay the RIAA $220,000 in damages. Thomas was granted a retrial however, and the case went to verdict again in June.
Thomas was found to have “committed willful violation” of the copyrights on all 24 songs and the jury awarded the RIAA and the media companies $1.92 million USD, equivalent to $80,000 for each song.
Today, the U.S. Department of Justice has called the gigantic fine constitutional, and acceptable.
The legal brief, via Cnet, says: “Congress took into account the need to deter the millions of users of new media from infringing copyrights in an environment where many violators believe that they will go unnoticed.”
Prosecutors, during the case, made sure to note that current intellectual property laws allow copyright holders to sue for up to $150,000 USD per work “stolen.”
Result for: jammie
Jammie Thomas-Rasset will be appealing the $1.92 million judgement against her in the first RIAA file sharing case ever decided by a jury.
At issue will be the constitutionality of awarding $80,000 per song. US copyright sets minimum damages at $750 per song, but allows up to $150,000 for “willful infringement.”
Attorney Joe Sibley told CNET News “She wants to take the issue up on appeal on the constitutionality of the damages. That’s one of the main arguments–that the damages are disproportionate to any actual harm.”
Although the courts have previously ruled that punitive damages in excess of ten times the actual damage caused are a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the US Constitution, there’s no precedent on whether statutory damages are similarly limited.
The Department of Justice has already shown they are willing to defend the damages. Earlier this year a lawyer from the DOJ Federal Programs Branch, which is headed by former RIAA lawyer Ian Gershengorn did exactly that in another case.
Assuming Ms. Thomas-Rasset can afford to continue her defense, this case could go as high as the US Supreme Court. Whether they will agree to hear the case is anybody’s guess.
Result for: jammie
Although the big news has been surrounding the RIAA and their decision over file sharer Jammie Thomas, another piece of interesting news regarding the trade group has surfaced today as well.
Mavis Roy, a woman who was sued by the RIAA over alleged file sharing, has ’settled’ today with the trade group, however there is much more to it.
On the dates in which she is alleged to have pirated the music, Roy did not own a computer, and her stories check out. She tossed out the first written threat from the RIAA thinking it was a joke and was promptly sued afterwards. Luckily, a law student took up her case and Roy and the RIAA settled today for the lofty sum of $0 USD.
Despite this victory in court, Roy is “still unsettled that the record companies are able to treat upstanding American citizens in this way. Invading people’s privacy and accusing people of things that don’t even make sense. It is such a sad waste of the courts time.”
Moby may be correct in saying it is time for this group to disband.
