Insane’ file-sharing verdict could challenge law’s constitutionality
By Muriel Kane
Published: June 19, 2009
In the first file-sharing case to go to trial in the United States, a Minnesota jury has ruled that a 32 year old woman must pay the music industry $1.92 million dollars for illegally making 24 songs available for sharing from her hard drive.
The woman, Jammie Thomas-Rasset, had originally been accused of uploading 1700 songs to Kazaa. An earlier verdict of $220,000 was overturned because of a faulty jury instruction, with the judge describing even that lower amount as “unprecedented and oppressive.”
After today’s ruling, Thomas-Rasset called the damages “ridiculous” and said she had no means of paying them. A representative of the Recording Industry Association of America said the music companies were willing to settle for a much smaller amount, which based on past cases might still be in the tens of thousands of dollars.
A blog entry at technology news site ZDNet, however, describes the verdict as “insane” and suggests that it “could prove [the] RIAA’s downfall.”
Lawyer and tech writer Richard Koman points out several serious problems with the amount of the verdict. For example, the law used in the case normally prescribes damages of $750 to $30,000 per infringement. The judgement against Thomas-Rasset comes out to $80,000 per song — an amount which is considered appropriate only when there has been “willful” infringement, which would seem to mean a crime committed for profit or out of a desire to do deliberate harm.
SOURCE: THE RAW STORY
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