Beat Goes On For RIAA File-Sharing Case
In a case that will likely result in a third trial, the Recording Industry Association of America filed an objection last week after a judge reduced a fine against a copyright violator in a conflict that began three years ago as the music industry's first jury trial to combat piracy.
Last month, a federal district court judge in Minnesota slashed a fine from $1.92 million to $54,000 against Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a Brainerd, Minn., mother of four who was found liable last year for infringing copyright on 24 songs using the file-sharing application Kazaa.
After she was found liable, Thomas-Rasset filed a motion to protest the size of fine, prompting the district court judge to reduce it to $54,000 last month. The plaintiff, however, was offered the option to object, as the RIAA has chosen to do. This action will prompt a new trial to determine the proper size of the fine.
"He was basically pulling the rug out from under any copyright owner," said RIAA spokeswoman Cara Duckworth of the judge's decision to slash the fine.
The RIAA decided to ask for a retrial because it says that the enormous reduction in Thomas-Rasset's fine could set a bad precedent, undermining the significance of future copyright fines. The RIAA also points out that it offered to settle with Thomas-Rasset at $25,000, an out-of-court maneuver which would have reduced her fine without introducing bad precedents. Thomas-Rasset's lawyers have expressed an unwillingness to settle over this.
The parties now await notice from the Court about the date for a new trial on damages. Thomas-Rasset told the Minneapolis Star Tribune last month that while any reduction in the fine is a "good thing," she would still appeal the reduced fine. She has maintained her innocence since the beginning.
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