The Justice Department on Wednesday sided with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and against a Minnesota woman appealing a $220,000 judgment against her for illegal file sharing.
In a filing with the U.S. District Court of Minnesota, the Justice Department supported the RIAA's award, asking that the court reject Jammie Thomas' appeal.
In October, Thomas' lawyer filed a motion to set the judgment aside, claiming that the verdict, which amounts to $9,250 for each song allegedly shared, was unconstitutionally excessive considering the actual value of each downloaded song was less than $1 a piece.
boycott-riaa.com - Article: Kazaa wanted business appropriate file ::
number of stories about file sharing and RIAA lawsuits on the major in that case we should chip in and put a server there with 10 million songs on a
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The case has drawn worldwide attention, because Thomas, a 30-year-old Native American and single mother, is the first person brought to court by the RIAA for illegally sharing music files. Most of the other 26,000 other lawsuits brought by the RIAA against people using Kazaa's file-sharing software have been settled out of court.
In February, the RIAA sent 400 "pre-litgation" settlement letters to 13 colleges and universities, requesting they be forwarded to students. The letters offered a "discounted rate" to settle infringement charges.
The DOJ's filing, a "Memorandum in Defense of the Constitutionality of the Statutory Damages Provision of the Act," asserted that the award in the case were not disproportionate or unreasonable and were in line with the provisions of the Act.
bit-tech.net | MediaSentry slapped by Massachusetts::
case the RIAA has ever brought against alleged file DoJ sides with RIAA in Thomas appeal. Latest News Headlines. Comments (14) Email to a friend
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Music body presses antipiracy case - CNET News.com::
DOJ to swappers: Laws not on your side. August 20, 2002. File-swapping foes exert P2P pressure On Tuesday, the RIAA asked a federal judge in Washington, D.
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"The actual damages for subsequent acts of infringement—that occur after an initial infringement—are impossible to calculate," the filing said. "The dollar amounts do not even take into account the intangible losses to which plaintiffs claim their witnesses testified, such as a 'diminished capability to identify and promote new talent.' Accordingly, given the findings of infringement in this case, the damages awarded under the Act's statutory damages provision did not violate the Due Process Clause."
The DOJ filing was just the latest bit of good news for the RIAA.
On Monday, Judge Gerald Lynch of the U.S. District Court of Southern New York granted a motion to dismiss counterclaims by LimeWire in its argument that RIAA's member companies were violating antitrust laws by conspiring to restrict trade.
LimeWire, which is also being sued by the RIAA under the Act, maintains that RIAA's members were engaging in price-fixing through their joint ventures, MusicNet and Pressplay.
"Although such a horizontal price-fixing arrangement is per se unlawful under the Sherman Act, LimeWire has not established that it suffered injury-in-fact," Judge Lynch wrote in his 44-page decision.
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