RIAA vs. Thomas-Rasset Verdict: Guilty + $19.2M
Despite a vigorous defense, the jury in Jammie Thomas-Rasset's federal retrial the jury found her guilty of willful copyright infringement and awarded the record labels $1.93 million in damages. That amount to $80,000 per song for just 24 songs,;far above the $750 a song minimum that the jury could have awarded and the $9250 per song fine suggested by the jury in the first trial.
The damages are so large in fact, that there could be a new backlash against the RIAA if it tried to collect the full amount from Thomas-Russet. "Since day one we have been willing to settle this case… and we remain willing to do so," an RIAA spokesperson acknowledged to reporters after the trial. But Jamie and her attorney seem ready to fight on. "One for the RIAA, not the end of the war," she told reporters.
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Here’s what Cary Sherman had to say … http://politicomix.blogspot.com/2009/06/winning-hearts-and-minds.html
i think u have ‘vigorous defense’ confused with ‘blatant lies in a court of law’
I don’t understand. Why are the charges so high?
Soon the record labels will be paying (and begging) for people to download their music for free, just like they do with radio. i.e. the internet (web) is the new radio.
The issue isn’t that major label bands can be found on P2P sites, the issue is that 100,000’s of indie bands are already giving music away for free, many of these bands are shit, but there are also many that are better than the major label acts. And there are so many unsigned acts that the majors are going to loose thanks to the social networks like MySpace that make it real easy for indies to disrupt the big guys efforts.
Our music is free and it’s hard as hell to get the word out, either we suck or we need to advertise like the majors, but who can afford to advertise?