Judge tosses out file sharing case

[Loco]

It's about time. This has been a good week for the legal system, first Jack Thompson disbarred and now this.

Judge Tosses Out Verdict Against Minn. Mom Accused Of File Sharing -- RIAA Music Downloads

A federal judge dealt the Recording Industry Association of America and record labels a setback Wednesday by throwing out a $222,000 verdict against a mom who was convicted of illegally sharing music over the Internet.

U.S. District of Minnesota Chief Judge Michael Davis ordered a new trial for Jammie Thomas, saying the jury's punishment was "unprecedented and oppressive." Davis said that the term "distribution" does not apply to simply making music available. It requires actual dissemination, he said.

[Araxen]

Will this be enough to set a precedent now so everybody else can tell the RIAA to fuck off?

[brekk]

Originally Posted by Araxen

Will this be enough to set a precedent now so everybody else can tell the RIAA to fuck off?

It sets the precedent that their current threats for how much they will sue someone for are absurdly high.

[Angerz]

Originally Posted by brekk

It sets the precedent that their current threats for how much they will sue someone for are absurdly high.

Well, it said that making music available doesn't count as distribution or dissemination, which would lead me to believe that, at least monetarily, a person wouldn't be liable for giving music as an upload on a P2P network, whether torrent or direct fileshareing, unless they are the original host.

I think this is a more relevant part of the ruling:

"The Court would be remiss if it did not take this opportunity to implore Congress to amend the Copyright Act to address liability and damages in peer-to-peer network cases such as the one currently before this Court," Davis wrote. "While the Court does not discount Plaintiffs' claim that, cumulatively, illegal downloading has far-reaching effects on their businesses, the damages awarded in this case are wholly disproportionate to the damages suffered by Plaintiffs. Thomas allegedly infringed on the copyrights of 24 songs -- the equivalent of approximately three CDs, costing less than $54, and yet the total damages awarded is $222,000 -- more than five hundred times the cost of buying 24 separate CDs and more than four thousand times the cost of three CDs."