In a major victory for the music industry, a jury has ordered a Minnesota woman to pay a whopping damages award for copyright violations after downloading music files using the Kazaa file-sharing programme.
Wall Street Journal Law Blog has the story:
The jury found a Minnesota woman named Jammie Thomas liable for willful copyright infringement, awarding the music companies a total of $220,000, or $9,250 for each of the 24 works the music industry said the woman uploaded. The decision will likely reinvigorate the music industry’s strategy of suing U.S. file sharers — even as the practice of file sharing continues to increase.
...Though the music industry was doing the moondance yesterday, industry watchers are skeptical over the verdict’s effect. On his “Recording Industry versus People” blog, Ray Beckerman, an attorney with Vandenberg & Feliu who represents alleged file sharers, thinks the verdict will be set aside on appeal. And the Electronic Frontier Foundation says on its site that music swapping will continue. “Every lawsuit makes the recording industry look more and more like King Canute, vainly trying to hold back the tide.”
ABA Journal wrote about Ms. Thomas a few days ago, as the trial was commencing:
But the 30-year-old single mother from Brainerd, Minn., is the only defendant whose case has made it to trial, Wired reports. Most cases settled for a few thousand dollars, according to the Associated Press.
Jury selection in the case begins today in Duluth, Minn. Thomas' lawyer, Brian Toder, said his client is willing to pay for a trial, even though it will cost more than settlement.
While the jury verdict is clearly justifiable, the larger questions about the future of the recording industry and music distribution in the digital age are simply not going to be resolved by these kinds of lawsuits.
The music industry has been behind the technological curve at every stage since the Internet achieved critical mass.
Recent initiatives by artists such as Radiohead have bypassed traditional record label distribution altogether with offers of free or "pay what you like" downloads of their current recordings.
The bottom line is that that musical artists are becoming less and less inclined to opt in to the one-sided recording contracts and distribution deals traditionally demanded by major labels - the labels are no longer necessary to artists.
At this stage, recording artists can simply and inexpensively self-produce using digital home audio and video recording technology. When their masterpieces are ready, they can instantaneously take their works directly to the public via the Internet.
No artistic souls sold.
No creative compromises necessary.
No middleman required.
And likely, a lot more loot is left in the hat for the artists themselves at the end of the day.
These file-sharing lawsuits may well be a last gasp for air by a rapidly-declining industry that is becoming obsolete before our very eyes.
- Garry J. Wise, Toronto
Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www.wiselaw.net
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