Comments on: Court orders Jammie Thomas to pay RIAA $1.92 million

Jury says defendant must pay $80,000 for each of the 24 songs she was ultimately found guilty of illegally sharing.

[ross613]

Yes, another glorious triumph for the American justice system. (Note the sarcasm.) How could anyone in their right mind possibly see this ruling as fair? Even if the music industry would have otherwise sold each and every one of the downloaded songs (which woultn't happen, obviously), how is it fair to fault this one woman for 100% of the guilt when those who downloaded the music are at least 50% part of the process in each case?

We may never know what logic (if any) the jury used to reach this verdict, but something smells rotten here. And not only was it injustice for Jammie - it's a bad precedent for other such cases. Those of you who are cheering this ruling might well be singing another tune down the road when RIAA strikes closer to home than even you might find comfrotable.

And at that point, it will be far too late (and hypocritical) for you to complain.

[PieWrit]

Excellent. Now we can go after the people that made mix tapes in the 80's and the people the Tivo NFL games without the express written permission of the National Football League.

People have been trading, copying and sharing songs since the beginning of the 'Music Industry'. If fact it is one of the biggest ways that people learn about new music and inspire people to buy an album, especially if it is a new artist. Now obviously people that do this in massive quantities or people that do it for monetary gain should be stopped but an individual that wanted to listen to a few songs to see if she liked the artist should not be.

Some people, in these comments, are equating copyright infringement as the same as a the theft of a sweater from your local mall. However it is vastly different in both real world and legal terms. If I went to the local store and copied the pattern of a designer sweater then went to my factory downtown and made an exact copy with all the labels making it seem it was the same designer. Then I sold them in stores at a discounted price. That would not be theft, it would be counterfeiting and would infrign on someones copyright or trademark.

Now imagine if I went to the store and copied the pattern of the sweater and went home and made an exact copy on my sewing machine, including all the labels indicating it was a designer sweater. Do you think it is really fair for a cop to arrest me and fine me $80,000 because I made an exact copy of a sweater at the mall? You may think that is OK, I don't.

[nborson]

Those interested in why a jury made this award may want to know...

JURY INSTRUCTION NO. 15: The act of making copyrighted sound recordings available for electronic distribution on a peer-to-peer network, without license from the copyright owners, violates the copyright owners' exclusive right of distribution, regardless of whether actual distribution has been shown.

And

JURY INSTRUCTION NO. 22: In this case, each plaintiff has elected to recover "statutory damages" instead of its actual damages and profits. Under the Copyright Act, each plaintiff is entitled to a sum of not less than $750 or more than $30,000 per act of infringement (that is, per sound recording downloaded or distributed without license), as you consider just. If, however, you find that the defendant's conduct was willful, then each plaintiff is entitled to a sum of up to $150,000 per act of infringement (that is, per sound recording downloaded or distributed without license), as you consider just.

See http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-9791764-38.html

[austinharris43]

how much is a song? 99 cents? so say you steal a candy bar that costs 99 cents; or no say you steal 24 of them. will the grocery store make you pay them 1.92 million? i doubt it. I find it sickening at how the RIAA is allowed to go around ruining people's lives just to "make an example" out of her. It is nothing more than a stunt and I am appalled that this was upheld. A man rapes a 5 year old girl, and goes to prison for one year. what is wrong with this country.

[l_batson]

I think some of you are missing the point on the "theft vs. copyright infringement" debate. Even if you ignore the fact that copyright infringement does not equal theft, there is still no proof that a single download of a track equals a lost sale of that track. In fact I'm sure most of us can attest to the exact opposite. Download it, like it, buy it. Download it, don't like it, don't buy it. Delete it you say? Then how would the next person be able to listen to it?

This has never been about "right and wrong" or "theft" or even "lost sales." It's always been about the fact that the RIAA knows that their business model is busted. We The People have stolen (lol) their jobs from them, and we're doing a more efficient and cheaper version of it. They aren't worried that 1 in 10 people who download will never purchase anything again, they are worried that they will be relegated to simply distributing works instead of their multi-billion dollar marketing business they've been running for the past 30 years.

The music "industry" wasn't always like this. They would be smart to remember that.

[wildbillc777]

I've been watching this case for a long while, and it infuriates me. I do not support internet crime, Ms Thomas is guilty and should pay a reasonable price for her willful transgression.

But....

It boils down to a powerful industry holding an ordinary citizen to an extraordinary penalty for a petty crime. I don't care what the law or what the jury says, the punishment is cruel and unusual by any measure, and ordinary Americans need to speak out against it.

As such, I would ask any American with a backbone to join me in DEMANDING from your local politician that this unreasonable law be stricken until such time as it can be rewritten as reasonable in the eyes of an average American.

Also, I would ask that Americans join me in refraining from CD and or DVD purchases as a message to the RIAA. The message is that willful corporate mass bludgeoning of tens of thousands of US CItizens with such an obviously lopsided law is unethical, and that we are capable of economic retaliation.

Just say NO, America, stop buying CD/DVD's and let the reason be known. It's OUR country, it's OUR court system. Make it work FOR us not AGAINST us. Use the tools at hand. Stop their money flow. The RIAA is all about money, hit them where it hurts.

[ducktoes]

It seems to be such a mean to do this to a struggling mother of four. It makes so angry at the recording industry, I never want to buy another cd again.

I'm a computer repair person and almost every computer I fix has some sort of p2p on it. Some really poor people whose computers I fix for free and who could never afford to buy a cd use file-sharing as a mode for their only entertainment. Richer people test out the music and then go buy it. They wouldn't sell that much more without p2ps, because some people who download would never buy the music if they couldn't download it.

[iERIKA]

The RIAA is pretty crazy.
That's an awful lot of money.
Nobody has that kind of money.
Except maybe commerce.

[SecretPenguin]

It seems way unfair to fine her that much money but she did steal those songs so I dunno.

[bpl84]

Wait... isn't America a socialist government now?? I mean Obama is a Socialist with free health care and bail outs for everyone right?? So if everything belongs to everyone isn't the music the peoples music? Free for one and all! Now get back to work!

[Altotus]

Get it right its lawmakers that are responsible for selling out! Replace the jokers for nothing more than a trip to the polls.

[Altotus]

Legal to dl in Canada. Give up all hope in America. Why? Ask a politician why they have forsaken the American people for a few dollars.

[halfasemitone]

If a shirt kept magically appearing in the privacy of your own home and every time you took the shirt another one would appear magically and then another and then another. No one is making the shirt it's just piecing itself together and just appearing. No one to see you, no one around. Just you in your own home. Not only that there was nothing stopping you, no locked doors, no alarms, just a shirts that keep reappearing would you keep them?

I've got a feeling Steve would have a nice collection of shirts.

[7elite]

MR.sandoval thank you for the info in this case,but is not fair what they doing against jammie thomas,the records companies are the firtsone stolen music from the band,artis,and more, i see the copyright penaltie wow 80,000 per track,per song.MR sandoval when you have time look for this case in the internet ( los mojados del norte tumbando muros ) or ( musico demanda a la disquera universal ) that case is real why the news never going into that one, i hope THE JUSTICE LOOK FOWARD THIS CASE