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Last November, a jury ordered Jammie Thomas-Rasset to pay the RIAA $1.5 million for downloading 24 songs -- $62,500 per track. The dispute reached a short-lived conclusion a month ago after judge Michael Davis slashed the award to $54,000, calling the original fee "appalling" and "oppressive." Discontent with the federal court's decision verdict, the RIAA has filed an appeal today in the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in St. Louis.
This should come as no surprise, considering the RIAA told Ars Technica that it disagreed with the decision at the time and admitted it was considering further litigation. Likewise, Thomas-Rasset's lawyer, Kiwi Camara, acknowledged that the recording industry would likely appeal, noting that he was ready to file a cross-appeal when the time came.
It seems the RIAA isn't even after money at this point. Not only has Thomas-Rasset refused to pay, but she surely doesn't have a $54,000 buried in her backyard -- much less a million bucks or more. Instead, this case is largely about setting a precedent for future suits in addition to serving as a potential reminder and deterrent for would-be pirates.
In fact, the RIAA is prepared to drag the dispute into yet another trial. Its appeal is focused on rebuking the court's failure to classify Thomas-Rasset's actions as "distribution" under 106(3) of the Copyright Act, which would vacate the jury's initial verdict and land the parties back in court. The filing also challenges the court's citation of due process (last month, Davis noted that $54,000 is the maximum award consistent with due process).
User Comments: 32
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hello ...
@ Tomorrow_Rains : I agree to your answer
What is sad is that the one being sued could themselves be victims of Internet hi-jacking by malicious neighbors (poor security), abuse by other family members & friends, etc...
some media can be copied & ripped as long as it is for backup purposes & never distributed but most don't give this right because of the risk.
copyright infringement is a delicate issue, & i really wish someday a really good & fair solution is found.
cheers!
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Here's the problem. None of you seem to be paying attention. They're going to appeal the case merely to set a precedent. They don't ever expect to get a dime from this person, trust me. But having said that, once a precedent is set, it opens the flood gates for tens of thousands of smaller justifiable litigations each with a guaranteed pay out which would be more affordable to those being sued. Like traffic tickets. Set the precedent, start collecting.
I'm no fan of the RIAA, but I also have a problem with the endless horde of ballsy anonymous internet dimwits who claim that everything should be free on the web, or that they refuse to pay for something, because it's too expensive, or not any good. Not one of them would dare to walk out of a Wal-Mart with a CD hidden in their pants, that's for sure.
We need to find the middle ground, where we can pay the artists for their labors and allow users their maximum "Leasing" rights to the music they've purchased. But ripping songs and putting them up on file sharing sites is bad all around. Doesn't fit any business model I know of and no one profits from it.Plus, It's tantamount to theft.
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Tomorrow_Rains said:
I bet none of you knew that "RIPPING" Cd's And Dvd's to your computer is Illegal, and is punishable by blah blah blah blah blah, according to the FBI.
I bet none of you knew that lending a CD or DVD to a friend or family member is Illegal, and is punishable by blah blah blah blah blah, According to the RIAA, MPIAA, FBI.
I bet none of you knew that telling the plot of a movie in a forum or on a blog is illegal
Should i continue?
or has it gotten ridiculous enough yet?
Ripping is legal. It used to be illegal, but they changed that awhile ago. Lending a CD is legal as long as they don't also rip it. Libraries do it all the time.
Plot descriptions? Yeah, I think that might be illegal, but then in Minnesota so is crossing state lines with a duck on your head.
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anonymous needs to do something to the MPAA and RIAA...
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after reading this article i just thought to myself..."how inhuman" how do they expect a women with kids to pay $1.5m, what kind of example is this setting? totally pathetic....
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The movie and recording industry is seriously broken and completely greedy. I'm surprised that people are putting up with the bully abuse tactics. With millions of people on torrents, it's going to be for them to plug the hole. And if you look at what the big studios are going like releasing Epix tied to cable company subscription channels, it make you wonder why the government isn't doing anything about this BIG BUSINESS collusion. There was a light of glimmer with Netflix but with Liberty/Starz screwing them (and us) over, no wonder people are flocking back to torrents... The FTC is sleeping at the wheel or too scared to do something?
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I think what many are missing is the costs for the law suit and the companies should not be expected to have to sue each individual that cheats. Making it really large reduces the number of people that cheat.
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