In what turned out to be a nightmare for the defendant, a federal jury on Thursday ruled that Jammie Thomas-Rasset willfully violated the copyrights on 24 songs. Record companies were awarded $80,000 per song, for a total of $1.92 million.
This is the second time Thomas-Rasset went to trial on the matter. The single mother from Minnesota had planned to appeal the first ruling that came down from a different federal court in October 2007. But the judge in that case decided he had given the jury erroneous instructions and a new trial was ordered.
Thomas-Rasset may wish she had settled for the original verdict. The recompense for sharing copyright-protected music online in the first trial was only $220,000. Either way, she has said publicly that the record labels can’t collect money she doesn’t have.
The plaintiffs, which include Virgin Records, Sony BMG, Capitol Records, Arista Records, Warner Bros., UMG Recordings, and Interscope Records, claimed Thomas-Rasset distributed 1,702 copyrighted audio files on file-sharing network Kazaa in 2005.
A Precedent-Setting Case
“We appreciate the jury’s service and that they take this as seriously as we do,” the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) said. “We are pleased that the jury agreed with the evidence and found the defendant liable. Since day one, we have been willing to settle this case, and we remain willing to do so.”
Under oath, Thomas-Rasset denied that a folder on the Kazaa network that contained illegal files of copyrighted songs belonged to her. But experts testified that the Internet address used by “tereastarr,” the name of the Kazaa user who infringed, belonged to Thomas-Rasset.
The RIAA had reportedly given Thomas-Rasset the opportunity to settle the case for between $3,000 and $5,000, but she declined. The jury could have awarded up to $150,000 per song under federal law.
The precedent-setting case is part of the…