$222,000 Downloading Verdict Thrown Out
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Vivendi Faces New Trial After Downloading Verdict Thrown Out
By Jef Feeley and Tom Wilkowske
Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- A $222,000 verdict won by Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group and other record labels against the first person to challenge online music-piracy claims at trial was thrown out, leaving the companies to reargue the case.
U.S. District Judge Michael J. Davis in Duluth, Minnesota, yesterday set aside the verdict against Jammie Thomas and said the 31-year-old mother deserved a new trial partly because he erred in instructing jurors how to decide if she'd violated the companies' copyrights on 24 songs she downloaded and offered on the Internet.
The judge also found the damages awarded over the downloads were excessive. ``Her status as a consumer who was not seeking to make a profit does not excuse her behavior,'' he said in the 44-page ruling. ``But it does make the award of hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages unprecedented and oppressive.''
The decision may make it harder for record labels to recover damages in copyright-infringement cases against consumers who download music from the Internet for free. Lawyers for the companies told Davis earlier this year that setting aside the verdict would set an impossibly high standard for proving music-distribution claims.
Lawyers for the Recording Industry Association of America began suing individual downloaders four years ago, claiming the improper swapping of music files is costing the industry billions of dollars a year.
$9,250 Per Song
A federal jury in Duluth ruled in October 2007 that Vivendi and other music providers, including Warner Music Group Corp. and Bertelsmann AG's Sony BMG Music Entertainment, were victimized by the downloads. Jurors said Thomas, a mother of two, had to pay $9,250 for each of 24 songs she downloaded from the music site Kazaa.
Thomas's attorney, Brian Toder of Minneapolis, requested a new trial, arguing the award was unconstitutionally severe.
Davis told lawyers in May that he may have mistakenly instructed jurors in the case that simply making music available on file-sharing networks is the same as actually distributing it.
``This decision was not unexpected given the court's previous comments,'' RIAA spokesman Jonathan Lamy said in an e- mailed statement. ``We have confidence in our case and the facts assembled against the defendant.''
The association's members include the labels owned by the major record companies: Universal, Warner, Sony Corp., Sony BMG and Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd.'s EMI Group Plc. All the companies had songs that were part of the suit against Thomas.
`Substantially Prejudiced'
In yesterday's ruling, Davis concluded he'd erred when telling jurors the companies didn't have to provide proof of an actual transfer of songs on a peer-to-peer network to make a case for copyright infringement. That error ``substantially prejudiced Thomas' rights,'' he said.
The judge also urged Congress to amend federal law to clarify issues of ``liability and damages in peer-to-peer network cases.'' Lawmakers haven't provided enough guidance on how to handle non-commercial cases, the judge said.
``All of the cases cited involve corporate or business defendants and seek to deter future illegal commercial conduct,'' Davis wrote. ``The parties point to no case in which large statutory damages were applied to a party who did not infringe in search of commercial gain.''
The damages handed down against Thomas wouldn't serve as a deterrent against others who infringe on copyrighted music for profit, the judge reasoned.
``It would be a farce to say that a single mother's acts of using Kazaa are equivalent to the acts of global financial firms illegally infringing on copyrights to profit,'' the judge wrote.
The case is Capitol Records Inc. v. Jammie Thomas, 06-1497, U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota (Duluth).
To contact the reporters on this story: Jef Feeley in Wilmington, Delaware at jfeeley@bloomberg.net; Tom Wilkowske in Duluth, Minnesota, at wilko@clearwire.net.
By Jef Feeley and Tom Wilkowske
Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- A $222,000 verdict won by Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group and other record labels against the first person to challenge online music-piracy claims at trial was thrown out, leaving the companies to reargue the case.
U.S. District Judge Michael J. Davis in Duluth, Minnesota, yesterday set aside the verdict against Jammie Thomas and said the 31-year-old mother deserved a new trial partly because he erred in instructing jurors how to decide if she'd violated the companies' copyrights on 24 songs she downloaded and offered on the Internet.
The judge also found the damages awarded over the downloads were excessive. ``Her status as a consumer who was not seeking to make a profit does not excuse her behavior,'' he said in the 44-page ruling. ``But it does make the award of hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages unprecedented and oppressive.''
The decision may make it harder for record labels to recover damages in copyright-infringement cases against consumers who download music from the Internet for free. Lawyers for the companies told Davis earlier this year that setting aside the verdict would set an impossibly high standard for proving music-distribution claims.
Lawyers for the Recording Industry Association of America began suing individual downloaders four years ago, claiming the improper swapping of music files is costing the industry billions of dollars a year.
$9,250 Per Song
A federal jury in Duluth ruled in October 2007 that Vivendi and other music providers, including Warner Music Group Corp. and Bertelsmann AG's Sony BMG Music Entertainment, were victimized by the downloads. Jurors said Thomas, a mother of two, had to pay $9,250 for each of 24 songs she downloaded from the music site Kazaa.
Thomas's attorney, Brian Toder of Minneapolis, requested a new trial, arguing the award was unconstitutionally severe.
Davis told lawyers in May that he may have mistakenly instructed jurors in the case that simply making music available on file-sharing networks is the same as actually distributing it.
``This decision was not unexpected given the court's previous comments,'' RIAA spokesman Jonathan Lamy said in an e- mailed statement. ``We have confidence in our case and the facts assembled against the defendant.''
The association's members include the labels owned by the major record companies: Universal, Warner, Sony Corp., Sony BMG and Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd.'s EMI Group Plc. All the companies had songs that were part of the suit against Thomas.
`Substantially Prejudiced'
In yesterday's ruling, Davis concluded he'd erred when telling jurors the companies didn't have to provide proof of an actual transfer of songs on a peer-to-peer network to make a case for copyright infringement. That error ``substantially prejudiced Thomas' rights,'' he said.
The judge also urged Congress to amend federal law to clarify issues of ``liability and damages in peer-to-peer network cases.'' Lawmakers haven't provided enough guidance on how to handle non-commercial cases, the judge said.
``All of the cases cited involve corporate or business defendants and seek to deter future illegal commercial conduct,'' Davis wrote. ``The parties point to no case in which large statutory damages were applied to a party who did not infringe in search of commercial gain.''
The damages handed down against Thomas wouldn't serve as a deterrent against others who infringe on copyrighted music for profit, the judge reasoned.
``It would be a farce to say that a single mother's acts of using Kazaa are equivalent to the acts of global financial firms illegally infringing on copyrights to profit,'' the judge wrote.
The case is Capitol Records Inc. v. Jammie Thomas, 06-1497, U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota (Duluth).
To contact the reporters on this story: Jef Feeley in Wilmington, Delaware at jfeeley@bloomberg.net; Tom Wilkowske in Duluth, Minnesota, at wilko@clearwire.net.
"This here's a REQUEST!"
EV intro to Chloe Dancer / Crown of Thorns
10/25/13 Hartford
EV intro to Chloe Dancer / Crown of Thorns
10/25/13 Hartford
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