Intellectual Property Law

No Settlement in RIAA v. Jammie Thomas

By David Kravets

The Recording Industry Association of America on Tuesday failed to settle the infamous Jammie Thomas case, setting the stage for a retrial of the nation’s only file sharing case to have gone before a jury.

Thomas’ lawyer, Brian Toder, and RIAA lawyers met privately in a Minnesota federal court for two hours haggling over the case. No conclusion was reached (.pdf). Thomas has maintained she would never settle. A retrial is set for June 15.

“What they wanted to do, my client did not want to do,” Toder said in a telephone interview. He declined to disclose the RIAA’s financial demands.

Jammie Thomas testifying during her October, 2007 trial

A Duluth jury in 2007 dinged Thomas $222,000 for infringing 24 songs on the Kazaa file sharing program. But months later, U.S. District Judge Michael Davis declared a mistrial, saying he falsely instructed the jury that copyright infringement amounted to merely making available copyrighted works on a file sharing program ? regardless of whether it was proved anybody else downloaded the content.

Davis ruled it was unclear whether jurors found Thomas liable because she made the songs available or downloaded them from another open share folder. The RIAA, in arguing against a mistrial, said the distinction did not matter. Toder successfully argued that the error was so egregious that a new trial was warranted.

The RIAA has sued more than 30,000 individuals on accusations of copyright infringement. Most have settled out of court for a few thousand dollars.

Among the few who fought their lawsuit was Thomas, the only one to go to trial. But jurors didn’t buy her theory that she was the victim of hacks and cracks via her WiFi connection.

After four days of trial, a jury spent five minutes behind closed doors concluding her liability. Panelists haggled for a few more hours while affixing a damages award. Some wanted to fine her $150,000 per purloined track, the maximum amount under the Copyright Act.

The RIAA announced last year it was discontinuing its 5-year-old litigation campaign. That said, the RIAA continues suing or negotiating settlements with people associated with IP addresses it had detected file sharing from as late as August.

Under its new anti-file sharing campaign, the RIAA is lobbying internet service providers to discontinue service to repeat copyright scofflaws.

See Also:

• Judge Declares Mistrial in RIAA-Jammie Thomas Trial
• Professors Siding With Jammie Thomas in RIAA Case
• RIAA Appeals Jammie Thomas Mistrial
• RIAA Juror: ?We Wanted to Send a Message’
• RIAA’s Lawsuit Strategy in the Balance at Jammie Thomas Hearing …
• Jammie Thomas Needs a New Lawyer, More Generous Fans
• Thomas Mistrial Decision Bolsters RIAA Litigation
• RIAA Thomas Appeal Denied; Retrial Likely to Set New Copyright …

Full post as published by Threat Level on May 12, 2009 (boomark / email).