$1.92 million filesharing woman wants a courtroom trilogy
By John Lister
The woman fined $1.92 million for sharing 24 songs on Kazaa has called for either a reduction in her fine or a third trial. Meanwhile the record industry wants Jammie Thomas-Rasset permanently banned from using filesharing services.
Thomas-Rasset was originally fined $220,000 for the copyright offenses, $9,250 for each of the tracks cited in the case. That verdict was set aside by the judge on a legal technicality, prompting a new trial last month. This time the jury awarded $80,000 per track.
In a new filing, her lawyer Kiwi Camara has raised three legal objections to the verdict, each with a suggested resolution. The first claim is that the award violates due process because it is so out of line with whatever actual damage Thomas-Rasset caused the record companies. Camara notes that the fine was just over 62,000 times as much as the songs would have cost to buy on iTunes. The claim says that in this case the award should simply be set aside.
The second claim is for remittitur, a process by which a judge reduces an award they rule excessive. Camara argues that previous cases have established that a “monstrous or shocking” fine requires such action. If this was granted, the award would be reduced to a figure of the judge’s discretion; Camara suggests this should be to the minimum allowable figure of $750 per track, a total of $18,000.
The final claim is that the court was wrong to admit evidence from MediaSentry, a firm which helped track down copyright violators for the record industry. Camara suggests MediaSentry may have been operating without a state license and the evidence was therefore gained illegally. If this claim is upheld, there would need to be a fresh trial.
It’s worth noting that these three claims do not involve a formal appeal against either the verdict or the award. If these claims fail, Camara may pursue an appeal, likely by suggesting the entire system of statutory damages for copyright, which allows juries to award anything up to $150,000 per offense, is unconstitutional.
It’s not one-way traffic in the courtroom however. Lawyers for the record industry have requested an injunction barring Thomas-Rasset from ever downloading or sharing music again.
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Stumble It!
July 8th, 2009
Banning from filesharing is quite pointless – she’s never going to be able to afford to get an internet connection ever again to be able to download anything anyway! The fines are absolutely ridiculous and when they start to catch people out who download a lot more than this woman (ie whole music libraries), I expect the fines to be held at $9,250 per track for fair measure. Then let’s see how the RIAA feels when a sizeable chunk of America is left bankrupt for life effectively, especially in the middle of a recession… good timing!