The RIAA's costly legal campaign against file sharers was dealt another blow today. Following a mistrial declaration in the RIAA vs. Jammie Thomas case, which nullified the jury's $222,000 award against the Minnesota woman for allegedly sharing 24 songs on the Kazaa network, the RIAA obviously sought permission to appeal the decision to toss the verdict.
However, federal judge Michael J. Davis is maintaining its position that his advice to the jury in the original trial was wrong and that merely "making available" files for download on P2P networks does not count as infringement. Saying that the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals was quite clear on the matter, Davis declined the petition, meaning the case will indeed be going back to court for a retrial.
The RIAA will have to wait until a final judgment is issued in a new trial next year before filing an appeal. But given the RIAA's recent decision to transition away from individual lawsuits and towards working with ISPs to police users, it's unclear if the infamous group will be willing to gear up for yet another high-profile trial against Thomas.