Thomas-Rasset and RIAA reject deals and head back to court
One day somebody is probably going to write a song about the Jammie Rasset-Thomas filesharing trials. If they do, it’s going to need yet another verse as the two sides are now headed to yet another court date.
The Recording Industry Association of America has confirmed it will formally reject the current court ruling of a $54,000 award in its favor. It has until Feb. 8 to accept the decision or ask for another hearing before the same judge. Such a hearing, which now appears inevitable, would consist solely of attempts to persuade the judge to change his decision as to the appropriate level of damages: it wouldn’t touch on the legal process and the verdict itself.
The RIAA made its decision after offering an out-of-court settlement with Thomas-Rasset where she would pay just $25,000, which would be donated to charities supporting musicians. It may seem odd that the RIAA would suddenly be willing to accept less cash (and in fact make no money itself), but that’s because the offer was conditional on Thomas-Rasset asking the judge to “vacate” or remove his decision from the legal record.
That would have been in the RIAA’s interests as if the case concludes with the current verdict, it will set a legal precedent that judges can lower copyright infringement penalties where they believe the jury has awarded an irrationally high figure. That would greatly reduce the chances of people being hit with the stupendously high fines the music industry hopes will deter filesharers.
Thomas-Rasset rejected the RIAA offer on both principle and practical grounds. On principle her side believes the damages should be zero as the RIAA hasn’t proven it suffered any losses from her actions. In practice her lawyers note that she’s virtually penniless so a $25,000 payment would bankrupt her just as much as $1.92 million.
Whatever the judge decides when asked to reconsider the size of the fine will likely not end the case. The RIAA wants to clear up the legal confusion resulting from the trial about whether merely making songs available on a filesharing site is a copyright infringement or if they must also then be downloaded. Thomas-Rasset’s side wants the entire system of juries making awards anywhere between $750 and $30,000 per copyright offense to be declared unconstitutional.
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