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Judge declares mistrial in RIAA filesharing case, sets aside $222,000 verdict: “

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

We always thought that the RIAA’s first-ever filesharing trial victory against Jammie Thomas was a little suspect since the labels weren’t required to prove that Thomas even had Kazaa installed on her machine or was the person using the account in question, and it looks like the court agrees — it’s just declared a mistrial and set aside the $222,000 judgment on the grounds that simply making copyrighted works available for download does not constitute copyright infringement. That’s a huge decision — the ‘making available’ theory is the basis for most of the RIAA’s legal arguments — and it means that the RIAA will now have to prove the unauthorized transfer of each song it wants to collect damages on at the new trial. We’ll see what effect this has in the broader sense — we’ve got a feeling we’re in for a slew of appellate decisions on both sides of the ‘making available’ debate — but for now it looks like the good guys are finally starting to score some points.

[Via ZDNet, thanks JagsLive]

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(Via Engadget.)

File Sharing Lawsuits at Crossroads, After 5 Years of Litigation: “Five years ago, the Recording Industry Association of America began a massive litigation campaign against file sharers. More than 30,000 lawsuits later, many are questioning the campaign’s effectiveness. All the while, basic legal questions, like what proof is necessary to prove copyright infringement, remain unanswered.

(Via Wired News.)

File Sharer Settling With RIAA for $756 a Song: “A Bronx woman agrees to pay the Recording Industry Association of America $6,050 for purloining eight tracks on the Kazaa file sharing network. That’s $756.25 per song. The largest penalty ordered in an RIAA file sharing lawsuit was $9,250 per track.

(Via Wired News.)

RIAA ‘Making Available’ Argument: File Sharers ‘Freeload’: “The Recording Industry Association of America told the federal judge in the Jammie Thomas case Monday that file sharers ‘freeload’ on copyrights.

(Via Wired News.)

RIAA Must Pay Defendant’s Legal Fees: “The music industry lobbying group is told to cough up $108,000 to cover Tanya Andersen’s legal costs after she beats an RIAA file sharing lawsuit.

(Via Wired News.)

Professors Siding With Jammie Thomas in RIAA Case: “A group of university professors is weighing in on the Jammie Thomas case, telling the trial judge he erred when instructing jurors that having an open share folder filled with copyrighted music amounts to infringement –- even absent proof that somebody else downloaded songs.

(Via Wired News.)

RIAA: The Perpetual Litigation Machine: The Recording Industry Association of America dropped a copyright infringement case against a New York family and refiled it with another judge. The original judge was to rule soon on a motion to dismiss. The defense lawyer called the move ‘judge shopping.’ The RIAA has sued more than 20,000 for unlawfully sharing music on peer-to-peer networks.

(Via Wired News.)