26,000 lawsuits have been filed by the recording industry over the last 4 years. Unlike those that have gone before her, Jammie Thomas of Brainard has refused to "settle out of court." Charged with illegally sharing 1,702 songs, the cost could be huge.
The RIAA ( Recording Industry Association of America)
lawsuit seeks damages under a federal law that allows $750 to $30,000 for each copyright violation -- which adds up to at least $1.2 million in Thomas' case.
Most of the accused that have been targeted by the music industry have opted to settle out of court, paying damages in the neighborhood of a few thousand dollars. They have taken this course as bringing their cases to trial would put them at risk of being fined the exorbitant amounts now facing Ms. Thomas.
"We repeatedly offer out-of-court settlements far less than what the law allows," said Jonathan Lamy, a spokesman for the R.I.A.A. The lawsuits aim to "communicate that there are consequences for breaking the law and encourage fans to turn to legal online services."
In 2001, the recording industry successfully convinced a Federal Judge to shut down the popular website Napster, which was sharing music files online, free of charge. That move did not eliminate the problem, as more sites continued to open across the web, including the site Kazaa, which is the source allegedly used by Ms. Thomas.
When the Napster shut down failed to achieve the desired results, the R.I.A.A. began filing individual lawsuits in 2003 against various web users, rather than targeting the websites themselves. To date there have been 26,000 suits filed, as well as an additional 4,000 pre-lawsuit letters being sent.
The RIAA says the lawsuits have helped, but it also acknowledges that the number of households that have downloaded music with file-sharing programs has risen from 6.9 million in April 2003 (before the lawsuits) to 7.8 million in March 2007, according to industry tracking.
Attorney Brian Toder stated that Jammie was adamant about her refusing to settle, instead visiting with him in his office. She agreed to pay his retainer, an amount equal to the out of court settlement, in exchange for his taking her case before a jury of her peers.
This case is considered to be extremely important to both sides, as it will be the first opportunity either party has had to voice their respective arguments before a jury.
The record companies suing Thomas include Virgin Records America Inc., Capitol Records Inc., and Warner Bros. Records Inc. They claim that on Feb. 21, 2005, online investigators at SafeNet Inc., found 1,702 files shared under what they said was a Kazaa account being used by Ms. Thomas.
"This individual was distributing these audio files for free over the Internet under the username 'tereastarr@KaZaA' to potentially millions of other KaZaA users," the lawsuit said.
Toder's first line of defense will be to make the music companies prove that they own the songs in the first place. The R.I.A.A. received a big blow on Monday when U.S. District Judge Michael J. Davis threw out 784 pages of documents produced by the record companies to show they owned a sample of the songs. Toder had argued that the documents were produced seven months late.
Jury selection began today, with opening arguments expected to begin today as well.
So, where do you stand on this issue? Should people be able to share their song catalogs freely with other Internet users? Or should it be necessary to pay anywhere from $1.00 on up, per song, in order to stock your IPod with your favorite tunes?
