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Court Drops Minnesotan’s $1.9M File-Sharing Award by 97%
She lost the copyright infringement suit last year for uploading files to music sharing sight Kazaa, after refusing to setting out of court for a paltry $5,000.
Consumers and digital rights advocates were outraged by the $1.9 million judgment against Jammie Thomas-Rasset. Evidently, so was Michael Davis, chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, who reduced the jury-awarded amount by 97%, reports CNET.
The judge called the initial award "monstrous and shocking,” as he reduced the damages to $54,000 – an amount, he says, that was still "significant and harsh.”
Not surprisingly, the woman who refused to settle for $5,000 is not too happy about a $54,000 judgment.
CNET indicates that Thomas-Rasset’s attorneys are challenging the constitutionality of any judgment against their clients.
Apparently, the RIAA is considering whether or not to appeal the ruling.
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Article Topics
News · Digital Rights · Legal · Drm · Jammie Thomas-rasset · Kazaa · Riaa ·About the Author
2 Comments (displayed in order by date/time)
I agree that they have taken this to far but they are trying to get the message out that if you get caught you have to pay. The only thing people seem to understand is jail and fines.
I like the speeder thing… maybe if they took her computer rights away and made her take a class to get them back like how they take licenses away from speeders. She would think twice about downloading recklessly 
.
People are still stealing music and movies online even after the threat of multimillion dollar judgments. Their fear is that as more and more people go online and as the technology continues to change where more and more devices have web access… they wont be able to sell anything. What happens when you can download a movie thats still in theaters right to your TV?
My friend knows enough about computers to check email and use facebook. A month ago she tells me shes watching a movie that i knew was still in theaters. I ask her what site she says the name of a website where you can illegally watch movies for free.
Thats when it finally hit me about how big of a problem piracy is. Its not just the 5% of the population who are computer geeks anymore. Its everyone.
The problem is that lawsuits dont scare people until it happens to them. The music and movie industry cant police the entire internet. They need to adjust their business model to curb piracy.
Wow, a judge who can actually put the situation into perspective. This is a good thing and should be lauded. Too bad the judge’s hands are tied to really correct this silliness.
Did this single mom break a law? Sure. But let’s keep it in perspective. I’m a composer and don’t like my work to be stolen. But there is a clear prioritization of what matters, here.
The speeder who gets a $500 fine caused much more danger to me that this file-sharer. Why should the penalty be so much larger?