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DoJ sides with RIAA in Thomas appeal
Author: Tim SmalleyPublished: 6th December 2007
Jammie Thomas has been ordered to pay around £110,000 in damages to the RIAA after being found guilty of sharing 24 songs on KaZaA.
Thomas, who was found guilty of illegally sharing 24 songs using the KaZaA filesharing network, was ordered to pay over £4,500 for each of the 24 copyright infringements, making the total fine awarded to the RIAA a whopping £110,000.
During the appeal, she called the RIAA’s case unconstitutional and claimed that the companies involved in the lawsuit didn’t incur £110,000 worth of damages.
Unfortunately for Thomas, the Department of Justice decided to reject the appeal, noting that the damages awarded fell under the guidelines in the Copyright Act. The DoJ’s ruling also said that Thomas’ fine was designed to act as both compensation and a deterrent.
“Given the findings of copyright infringement in this case, the damages awarded under the Copyright Act’s statutory damages provision did not violate the Due Process Clause,” claimed the report.
As we noted back in October, this is the first case of its kind as, although many other lawsuits filed by the RIAA against online music pirates, they have all been settled out of court. This is the first to go all the way, and the outcome was in favour of the record companies, setting a precedent for future lawsuits.
Do you think that Thomas has got what she deserved, or do you believe that the fines were a little harsh? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.
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Comments (20)
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Selling boot-leg DVDs on the street ;)
Scary precident though...
On a more serious note, i still think 4k per song is a little ott, however, as it said in the report, it is to act like a deterrent, however still, they could have been less greedy, but hey.
Sam
its so she can never afford another computer again.
Of course not.
don't forget it's 4500 quid per song, not collectively... ;)
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<A88>
she wasnt fined for all 1700, she was fined about $9,000 per song = $220,000 for all 24 songs. she was looking at over a million dollar fine maximum just for those 24 songs.