James Delahunty
3 Oct 2007 5:11
After more than 26,000 Internet users have been targeted by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for alleged copyright infringement, a case has finally ended in a proper trial. Capital vs. Thomas will challenge the recording industry's evidence against file sharers as well as fines levied by music companies for sharing copyrighted music online. Jammie Thomas refused to settle with the RIAA, saying she was wrongfully targeted by SafeNet.
SafeNet is contracted by the record companies to monitor file sharing activity and find sharers of copyrighted material. "I did not download or upload any music, period," Thomas, 30, said outside the federal courthouse in Duluth. A 12-member jury was empaneled on Tuesday. Her lawyer said that she will end up paying over $60,000 in attorney's fees because she refused to be bullied by the trade group.
"No one can prove which computer actually did this," defense attorney Brian Toder said in his opening statement. He argued that in this day and age, malicious individuals can easily hijack computers and use the Internet connections to distribute copyrighted material. However, the record companies claim that there is clear evidence that Thomas shared over 1,700 songs with potentially millions of file sharers.
"Piracy is a tremendous problem affecting the music industry," said the first witness, Jennifer Pariser, head of litigation and anti-piracy for Sony BMG Music Entertainment. "It has caused billions of dollars in harm in the past four or five years." Much of the first day discussion addressed fair use. Richard Gabriel, lead counsel for the record labels, questioned Pariser about consumers making just one copy of a music track they own for themselves.
"When an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song," Parsier said, adding that making a copy of one purchased song is, "a nice way of saying 'steals just one copy." Most music stored on MP3 players doesn't come from legal downloads, but other sources including ripping tracks from personal CD collections and indeed, software like iTunes possesses the ability to do so.
Thomas is not being sued for all 1,072 songs she allegedly shared, but instead, 25 songs by Virgin Records, Capitol Records, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Arista Records, Interscope Records, Warner Brothers Records and UMG Recordings Inc. If the jury finds "willful" copyright infringement, Thomas could face fines up to $150,000 per song.
Sources:
Yahoo (AFP)
Ars Technica