Music Industry Wins
In its first courtroom challenge after four years of lawsuits, the music industry scored a legal victory for its practice of suing alleged file sharers.
In the case in federal district court in Duluth, Minn., a Minnesota woman was found liable for willful copyright infringement. The jury awarded the music companies a total of $220,000, or $9,250 for each of the 24 works the music industry said the woman uploaded. The decision will likely reinvigorate the music industry’s strategy of suing U.S. file sharers — even as the practice of file sharing continues to increase.
Jammie Thomas was fighting charges she illegally uploaded songs, ranging from Green Day’s “Basket Case” to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.” The four major record labels that brought the case said she was the person using a computer address on Feb. 21, 2005, that was traced back to a user of the Kazaa file-sharing service who was making nearly 2,000 songs available for sharing. Ms. Thomas said she isn’t the culprit.
“The law here is clear, as are the consequences for breaking it,” said the Recording Industry Association of America, which pledged to continue its campaign of lawsuits.
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