AfterDawn: News

Federal Judge cuts $1.86 million from Jammie Thomas' file sharing penalty

A federal Judge on Friday dramatically reduced a penalty imposed on Jammie Thomas-Rasset by a Jury last year that amounted to almost $2 million for the offense of sharing 24 songs over the Internet. U.S. District Judge Michael Davis, who knocked the $1.92 million penalty down to about $54,000 ($2,250 per song), described the original fine as "monstrous and shocking."

"The need for deterrence cannot justify a $2 million verdict for stealing and illegally distributing 24 songs for the sole purpose of obtaining free music," Davis wrote. Davis did deny a request for a new trial from Thomas-Rasset however, and has given the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) seven days to either accept the smaller penalty or ask for a new trial.



"Whether it's $2 million or $54,000, I'm a mom with four kids and one income and we're not exactly rolling in that kind of dough right now," Thomas-Rasset said. The Judge said that he came to the $2,250 fee by simply tripling the minimum $750 penalty defined by Federal law, but did indicate that he could have considered an even lower fine.

Thomas-Rasset's attorneys find the ruling positive but will attempt to get the fine reduced even further. RIAA attorneys are still analyzing the ruling to decide how to respond.

Written by: James Delahunty @ 22 Jan 2010 19:07

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• 7 comments

• ZippyDSM

  Its still to much...for not trying to take money off it it should be 10$ a file.

  22.1.2010 19:32 #1

• ThePastor

  If they are smart they will accept any fine that she can live with, just to get the precident set.
  The money is not the important part. The guilty verdict is.

  22.1.2010 19:47 #2

• scorpNZ

  It's pretty sad when illegal file sharing gets you a whopping fine than if you had committed murder

  22.1.2010 21:55 #3

• KillerBug

  "The Judge said that he came to the $2,250 fee by simply tripling the minimum $750 penalty defined by Federal law, but did indicate that he could have considered an even lower fine."
  
  -He should have...if she had stolen 20 cds with 240 tracks from a CD Store, she would not have had to pay the minimum fine for 24 tracks shared.

  22.1.2010 23:00 #4

• bam431

  "RIAA attorneys are still analyzing the ruling to decide how to respond." For some reason this makes me think of them all sitting around in a dark castle at a big round table in a room with no windows,scheming on what to do next.

  23.1.2010 23:18 #5

• llongtheD

  Originally posted by bam431: "RIAA attorneys are still analyzing the ruling to decide how to respond." For some reason this makes me think of them all sitting around in a dark castle at a big round table in a room with no windows,scheming on what to do next.Yeah, you know they're all sitting around twisting their mustaches trying to squeeze every nickel they can out of that mother of four. They have to make an example out of her you know, stifle this dastardly
  file sharing so they can REALLY give the artists the money they deserve.
  

  If your fish seems sick, put it back in the water.

  24.1.2010 04:50 #6

• borhan9

  Why don't they just get the to pay the amount for each song on iTunes as like buying a mix CD of music that would be fair.

  24.1.2010 21:50 #7