A Minnesota woman was recently found “liable” for copyright infringement in the first case of its kind to go before a jury in United States. Twelve jurors found Jammie Thomas, a single mother of two, liable to pay $9,250 for each song she shared with others online — 24 songs in total, amounting to a $222,000 fine.
Thomas was found to have “infringed” upon the rights of music groups such as Green Day, Aerosmith, Journey and others. The verdict was seen as a huge victory for the RIAA, which has brought approximately 20,000 lawsuits against music file sharers over the past four years. The RIAA is calling their new litigation-heavy strategy a “zero tolerance policy against pirating.”
But despite the RIAA’s “war” on Internet piracy, the lawsuits, threats and intimidation have yet to have the slightest effect on peer-to-peer file sharing online. In fact, when the RIAA began their “zero tolerance policy,” there were an estimated 3.8 million people online sharing music and other media files. Today that number is estimated to be over 9 million. If anything, it appears that the RIAA’s strategy has backfired, resulting in the loss of billions of dollars to the music industry.
This case brings up many questions, and chief among them in this: “In the United States legal system, doesn’t the punishment still need to fit the crime?” Or have we forgot about such antiquated notions, to the point where we are content to allow a single mother of two to have her life, and that of her family, ruined over “sharing” 24 songs with others? Where’s the justice in that?
We can all certainly hope that Ms. Thomas will appeal this ridiculous verdict and fine. At least we had better do so; otherwise, the rule of law is severely damaged in this country. How long will it be before someone gets a speeding or parking ticket for a few hundred thousand dollars? Once the punishment no longer has to fit the crime, all bets are off.
Upon leaving the courtroom, neither the defendant nor her attorney had any comment. But Richard Gabrielle, the lead attorney for the RIAA, had this to say: “this is what can happen if you don’t settle…”
A pretty cocky statement indeed, especially when you consider that counselor Gabrielle’s client — the RIAA — continues to lose more and more income as a result of their litigation-happy policy. And if they continue their heavy-handed techniques, at this rate there will barely be an industry left for them to defend in a few years.
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