Jammie Thomas Challenges $1.92M File-Sharing Penalty

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 7, 2009 - 8:36am.

Duluth, Minn. - Jammie Thomas-Rasset, the Minnesota woman found guilty by a jury of copyright infringement on a file-sharing network and ordered to pay the record labels $1.92 million in damages, has filed motions to have the damage award dismissed or reduced, or alternately be granted a new trial, Ars Technica reported.

"For a single mother's noncommercial use of KaZaA, and upon neither finding nor evidence of actual injury to the plaintiffs, the judgment fines Jammie Thomas $1.92 million," reads a motion from Thomas-Rasset's attorneys.

"Such a judgment is grossly excessive and, therefore, subject to remittitur as a matter of federal common law."

The motion points out that the $80,000 per song penalty meted out by the jury, when the 24 songs in question retail for $1.29 on iTunes, is 62,015 times their actual value.

Thomas-Rasset's attorneys argue that such damages were in fact "punitive," which courts have previously found in some cases to be unconstitutional when greater than a ratio of 1:10.

The defendant will also on appeal seek to have evidence from RIAA investigator MediaSentry excluded, arguing that the company was not licensed as a private investigator in states where it operated.

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/mb6k5 (Ars Technica)

Published in DMW Daily, July 7, 2009

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Comments

this is a frivolous lawsuit.

Submitted by anonymous (not verified) on July 7, 2009 - 8:54am.

this is a frivolous lawsuit. in the 70's and early eighties many a concert was performed over the air on FM radio. who knows how many listeners recorded these concerts onto tape. what can possibly be the difference if you copy a download (recording) from a hard drive or over the air concert. I think the plaintiffs have completely abused the system (because they can afford to). It's a shameful abuse of the legal system. A real judge would throw this case out of court.