The Department of Justice is defending its $222,000 damage award in a music copyright infringement case that saw Jammie Thomas become the first music pirate in the U.S. to go before a jury. The feds say the penalty is constitutional.
Digital Journal — Jammie Thomas isn’t much different than anyone else. She downloads music from Kazaa. She uploads her favourite tunes, too. But the U.S. Department of Justice sought to make an example of Thomas, and took her to court.
In October, a 12-person jury penalized Thomas $222,000, or $9,250 for each of the 24 songs she shared on the file-sharing site. Thomas, like many avid downloaders, was outraged at the fine and filed a motion to challenge the constitutionality of the hefty penalty.
Recently, the Bush administration responded to Thomas’s motion with its own 20-page brief filed in U.S. District Court in Minnesota. The brief claims the damage award is not excessive, and it urges U.S. District Judge Michael Davis to uphold the ruling.
The brief noted: “In establishing that range, Congress also took into account the need to deter the millions of users of new media from infringing copyrights in an environment where many violators believe they will go unnoticed.”
Most defendants in copyright-infringement cases settle for about $3,000. Thomas, a 31-year-old single mother of two, was the first to go to trial. This case was also the first time the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) won a lawsuit against music piracy.
Consider this a massive blow to the 26,000 individuals against whom the RIAA has filed similar claims over the past two years. The Thomas lawsuit sets a precedent in music piracy cases, and gives more ammunition to the Department of Justice to start lassoing more downloaders across the country.
The fight isn’t over. A new ruling is forthcoming, and Thomas has a chance to demand a new trial. If the judge looks sympathetically on her situation, file-sharing fanatics can start buying champagne. But they shouldn’t pop those corks yet; no matter the outcome — new trial or upheld penalty — the RIAA and the Bush administration on a war path for music pirates.
And it looks like they won’t stop until people have learned their lesson, even at the cost of possible bankruptcy.
