Industry
Illegal downloading is devastating the recording industry, from top pop stars to unknown graphic artists, music industry lawyer Timothy Reynolds told a jury in Minneapolis yesterday. He said Jammie Thomas-Rasset, 32, of Brainerd, Minnesota, contributed to that damage by making 1,702 songs available through the online file-sharing program Kazaa.
“This industry is made up of real people,” Reynolds, of Holme Roberts & Owen LLP in Denver, said in opening arguments. “These people face a real threat to their livelihood.”
This is the second trial in the case against Thomas-Rasset, a natural-resources coordinator for the Mille Lacs Band of the Ojibwe. The first trial in October 2007 resulted in a $222,000 verdict in favor of the record companies. U.S. District Judge Michael J. Davis threw out the verdict, saying he had given the jury incorrect instructions.
Thomas-Rassets lawyer, Kiwi Camara of Camara & Sibley of Houston, argued that the industrys evidence only runs to his clients Internet connection. “It cant tell you that she was the person sitting behind the computer,” he told the jury.
The labels hired Internet security firm Media Sentry to gather evidence on the Kazaa network. They then subpoenaed Thomas-Rassets Internet service provider, Charter Communications, to gather more evidence on her IP address and cable modem, which are uniquely numbered.
Only Trial
The Thomas case is the only one thats ever gone to trial since the Recording Industry Association of America began suing music file-sharers more than five years ago. The industry trade group in December changed its policy to instead work with Internet service providers to impose sanctions against the people who are illegally swapping songs over the Web.
The record companies claimed that Thomas downloaded 1,702 songs to her computer from the music site Kazaa. The first trial centered on just 24 of those songs, including “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls and “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns n Roses. The first jury told her to pay $9,250 for each of 24 songs downloaded, for a total of $222,000.
In throwing out the verdict, Davis said it wasnt enough that Thomas may have posted the songs on the Internet. The jury had to decide the songs had actually been distributed to another party, he said.
In addition to Universal Music Group, the other labels involved in the case are owned by Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd.s EMI Group Plc, Warner Music Group Corp. and Sony Music Entertainment.
Facts Supported Verdict
About 35,000 people have been subjects of legal actions taken by the RIAA, either in the form of lawsuits or subpoenas. It stopped the process of initiating new cases last August and since then the only new lawsuits are ones in which the investigations had already begun, Lamy said.
Change in Policy
The program of suing people was “not a money-making operation,” he said. The change in policy, though, came because the ISPs were more willing to work with the music companies to confront their customers about the file-swapping.
The lawsuits brought criticisms that the music industry was attacking its own customers. The record companies said they needed to take strong action to curtail the file-sharing.
At its peak in 1999, the industry brought in $14.6 billion in sales; last year that number had fallen to $8.5 billion. The RIAA claims the primary reason for the drop was because of online music theft as well as traditional piracy in the form of bootlegged CDs.
Details of the new policy, which the RIAA calls a “graduated response program,” are still being worked out, and not all ISPs have signed on yet, Lamy said. In a typical case, the ISP would first send a legal notice to the suspected violator and then possible cut off access.
The case is Capitol Records Inc. v. Jammie Thomas-Rasset, 06-1497, U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota (Minneapolis).