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Judge Declares Mistrial in RIAA-Jammie Thomas Trial
jammie thomas, left, and her attorney, brian toder, bequeath the courthouse form year after a jury dinged her $222,000 for sharing 24 songs on the kazaa file-sharing network. photo: associated bear on
A federal judge on Wednesday set aside the nation’s first and only federal jury verdict against a peer-to-peer file sharer for distributing copyrighted music on a peer-to-peer network without the labels’ authorization.
U.S. District Judge Michael Davis of Duluth, Minnesota, declared a mistrial in the case of Jammie Thomas, a Minnesota mother of three, setting aside the $222,000 penalty levied by a federal jury last year for copyright infringement — $9,250 for each of the 24 infringing music tracks she made publicly available on the Kazaa file sharing network.
Davis’ decision means the Recording Industry Association of America’s five-year copyright infringement litigation campaign has never been successful at trial.
Most of the 30,000 cases have settled out of court for a few thousand dollars and have never broached the hot-button legal issue that ultimately prompted Davis to declare a mistrial.
Thomas was the nation’s only RIAA target to take her case to trial, which last year ended in an RIAA victory. The case emboldened the recording industry’s resolve to continue its public relations effort against file sharing through a nationwide litigation campaign.
The legal brouhaha prompting Davis to declare a mistrial focused at the heart of all file sharing cases: What level of proof was necessary for the RIAA to prevail.
Davis had instructed (.pdf) the jury last year that the recording industry did not have to prove anybody downloaded the songs from Thomas’ open Kazaa share folder. Davis read Jury Instruction No. 15 to jurors saying they could find unauthorized distribution — copyright infringement — if Thomas was “making copyrighted sound recordings available” over a peer-to-peer network “regardless of whether actual distribution has been shown.”
But Davis had second thoughts and, without any urging from the litigants in the case, summoned the parties back to his courtroom in August, writing in a brief order that he may have committed a “manifest error of the law.” He heard arguments from both sides and said he would issue ruling soon.
With Wednesday’s opinion, Davis made his revised position official and ordered a retrial — one with different jury instructions.
“Jury Instruction No. 15 was erroneous, and that error substantially prejudiced Thomas’ rights. Based on the court’s error in instructing the jury, it grants Thomas a new trial,” the judge ruled (.pdf).
The RIAA, which is the music industry’s lobbying and litigation arm, fought hard to keep Jury Instruction No. 15 in play. The group told the judge that copyright infringement on peer-to-peer networks is implied, and that it shouldn’t have to provide proof of an actual transfer — because it’s impossible.
“Requiring proof of actual transfers would cripple efforts to enforce copyright owners’ rights online ? and would solely benefit those who seek to freeload off plaintiff’s investment,” RIAA attorney Timothy Reynolds said in a court filing (.pdf).
It was the third time a federal judge had ruled against the RIAA on the making-available claim. The decisions in the other two cases were in a pretrial stages, one case of which was dismissed in the RIAA’s favor because a judge concluded the defendant had tampered with evidence and ordered him to pay $40,000.
Still, Judge levitra kaufen Davis’ decision does not derail the RIA
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