Jammie Thomas leaves the courthouse with her attorney, Brian Toder of Minneapolis, after the jury returned a verdict against her in her civil trial for alleged music pirating through illegal sharing. Photo by Julia Cheng for Associated Press
by James Oliphant
The Minnesota file-sharing mom hit with a $222,000 penalty for illegal downloading last week said today she is going to appeal the judgment.
A Duluth, Minn. jury returned the verdict against Jammie Thomas Friday, siding with six recording companies that brought suit against her for copyright infringement. The amount represents damages for 24 songs that were downloaded without payment and then shared on the Kazaa network. Her attorney argued that Thomas wasn't the downloader. Thomas asserts her innocence on her MySpace blog.
The lawsuit was part of ongoing effort by the powerful Recording Industry Association of America to stem illegal downloads, which it says costs the industry billions a year. Thomas' suit was the first RIAA action to go to trial. Thomas, 30, is a single mother who says she earns $36,000 annually.
The basis of the appeal, Thomas says, will be jury instructions that said jurors could find her guilty simply by her participation in the Kazaa network on the night in question, regardless of whether the industry proved she actually downloaded the songs. The RIAA alleged two million Kazaa users, Thomas among them, were sharing 800 million songs between them on a night in February 2005.
For the record, here is a list of the 24 songs chosen by the RIAA:
Vanessa Williams "Save the Best for Last"
Reba McEntire "One Honest Heart"
Janet Jackson "Let's Wait Awhile"
Goo Goo Dolls "Iris"
Journey "Faithfully" and "Don't Stop Believing"
Sara McLachlan "Possession" and "Building a Mystery"
Aerosmith "Cryin' "
No Doubt "Bathwater," "Hella Good" and "Different People"
Linkin Park "One Step Closer"
Guns N Roses "Welcome to the Jungle" and "November Rain"
Def Leppard "Pour Some Sugar on Me"
Bryan Adams "Somebody"
Sheryl Crow "Run Baby Run"
Richard Marx "Now and Forever"
Destiny's Child "Bills, Bills, Bills"
Green Day "Basket Case"
Gloria Estefan "Here We Are," "Coming Out of the Heart," and "Rhythm is Gonna Get You."
And by the way, Ms. Thomas, if you could hurry up with that payment? Richard Marx really, really could use that check.
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Comments
siding with six recording companies that brought suit against her for copyright infringement.
Would any of these recording companies be like sony who has produced the dvd burners, vhs recorders? You can't have it both ways.
Posted by: bill r. | October 8, 2007 3:55 PM
The record industry is loosing billions because they release crap music from "artists" whose songs sounds as good as my lawn mower & they charge stupid prices for the cds they're recorded on. They could at least make the case last longer then three minutes before they crack.
Paranoid about getting busted for downloading music? Here's a hint on how to bypass this bs;
There's a cd section in every library. & it's free.
Posted by: RomanB | October 8, 2007 4:01 PM
Damages for distributing songs : $220,000
Damages for killing an innocent Iraqi civilian: $2,500
Yep, we sure have our priorities in order.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 8, 2007 4:07 PM
The punishment doesn't fit the crime. Once again, our court system is out of control.
Yes, she likely violated copyrights law. But $222,000 penalty? This sounds like a small claims court. She pays the 24 songs at $10.00 or whatever is worth online plus court fees. That's a more reasonable judgment.
Our court shouldn't get out of control like this. . .
Posted by: Lou | October 8, 2007 4:12 PM
HOORAY SMOKERS!
LET'S SUE THOSE SECOND HAND SMOKERS, 'CAUSE THEY STEAL OUR SMOKE!
WHO THE H E L L SHOULD CARE ABOUT THEIR PROFIT, WHEN THEY DIDN'T CARE ABOUT THE THOUSANDS OF MINERS PUT OUT OF WORK?!
Posted by: john | October 8, 2007 6:52 PM
The recording industry is a giant, money crazy industry who is out to financially destroy the very people who keeps it alive...MUSIC LOVERS! Money is all that matters to them, as evident by their past actions...Remember when they KILLED the 'single (vinyl) record'? Ever wondered WHY they did that? Well, the idea was (and it worked, BTW!) if they got rid of 'SINGLES' (about a dollar!) then music fans would have NO CHOICE but to shell-out about 15 dollars just to hear that ONE song (and about 10 to 12 bs 'FILLER' songs)...Get it? In other words, we're FORCED (extortion!) to buy bullschit songs no one would EVER listen to, much less BUY, just to hear ONE GOOD SONG...But THEY don't get busted for this extortion, do they? Again, know why? Well, if YOU paid that much 'TAX' money to the Gov, you could get away with anything too!
Posted by: James Peterman | October 8, 2007 7:35 PM
The more pain on the RIAA, the better! Scumbags.
Posted by: RNCBS | October 9, 2007 12:39 AM
Oh, gee, ISN'T THAT CLEVER WRITING, from the clueless Mr. Oliphant?
He must really think this is sooooo funny: "And by the way, Ms. Thomas, if you could hurry up with that payment? Richard Marx really, really could use that check."
Trouble is, Mr. Oliphant, I defy you to prove that ANY musician has ever seen EVEN A PENNY of the "take" from this fruitless attack on music fans!!! In fact, refer to the actual testimony at this very trial BY THE RECORDING MAFIA, and you would have noticed that it claims (admits?) to be losing money on this mindless shakedown.
How predictable for the "mainstream media" to simply parrot the industry's phony justification for its delusional thrashings, rather than sticking to the facts.
An ARTIST actually getting paid by the international corporate conglomerates that exploit them? HAH! Now THAT'S funny.
Posted by: Rob | October 9, 2007 3:13 AM
Record companys by and large suck.
Posted by: K-Fed | October 9, 2007 6:11 AM
Lawyers for the RIAA in this case said that, just by putting copies of songs that you own onto a PC, you have violated the copyright laws.
Say goodbye to the Fair Use concept that courts said we used to have.
Posted by: BC | October 9, 2007 10:16 AM
"Would any of these recording companies be like sony who has produced the dvd burners, vhs recorders? You can't have it both ways.
Posted by: bill r. | October 8, 2007 3:55 PM"
That would be the same Sony corporation that was caught selling CDs that loaded a rootkit trojan onto people's computers, trashing their systems. They denied doing it at first until the publicized proof was overwhelming. Then the affected people had to get lawyers to create a class action lawsuit for them to get some justice.
I'll never buy another Sony product again.
Posted by: BC | October 9, 2007 10:19 AM
I am sure that this women's, and others sharing of music is driving these companies into financial ruin. So much of what is recorded today under the guise of music suck that these artist's should be thankful if someone wants to listen to, much less share their music.
When I was a kid, you used your Tandy tape recorder to tape songs off of WCFL and WLS radio. We tolerated Brant Miller and Bob Sirrot talking over the beginning and end.
A guess billions of dollars of profits are not enough. This $200,000 will save these companies for another month from financial dispair.
Posted by: Rob S | October 9, 2007 10:51 AM
are these, so called laws to protect rich fat cats, are limited by US borders/citizenship?
If so, then the rest of developed world can sleep well and enjoy freedoms and freely shared stuff, and RIAA zone of operations should be renamed in scapegoat land.
Posted by: interesting | October 9, 2007 3:00 PM
The copyright laws have become draconian and unrealistic as the result of the recording industry's financial contributions. The legislature caved in and the courts are too timid to resist the RIAA. Thus you have a "modest" award of $220,000 against a poor woman over 24 songs floating around in cyberspace.
But the cat is out of the bag and while the RIAA is fighting a vicious rearguard action, ultimately it will lose if it maintains its current stance.
Posted by: Jsens | October 11, 2007 8:10 AM
I wanna punch the RIAA for being so greedy. If there was a place I could donate to have them destroyed and ridiculed I'd donate.
Posted by: zoom | October 11, 2007 6:09 PM