Previous |
Next |
October 05, 2007, 12:14 PM ET
RIAA Wins Suit Against a Woman Accused of Sharing Music
The Recording Industry Association of America has scored a big win in its first ever civil trial against a peer-to-peer piracy suspect.
A Minnesota jury ruled yesterday that Jammie Thomas, from Brainerd, Minn., owes Capitol Records $220,000 for sharing 24 songs on KaZaA, the once-popular file-swapping network. Ms. Thomas has denied the piracy charges, but the jury rejected her argument that someone else could have posted the files using her own KaZaA screen name and Internet-protocol number.
At CNET News, Declan McCullagh points out that Ms. Thomas may have been stung by a few facts specific to her case. For one thing, her KaZaA screen name — “tereastarr” — happened to be a name she used elsewhere online, so jurors may have had no doubt that the RIAA had found the right person.
Even if the verdict against Ms. Thomas doesn’t have much value in predicting future trial results, it has plenty of symbolic meaning, as Ars Technica points out. The recording industry is now trying to convince college students to settle piracy claims out-of-court for about $4,000 a pop. Compared to the $222,000 that Ms. Thomas has been told to pay, that may seem like a bargain. —Brock Read
Categories: Legal-Troubles, Campus-Piracy
Add Your Comment
Commenting is closed.