Woman convicted of p2p crimes given new trial
A Minnesota woman who had been convicted of violating copyright laws by downloading music files has been granted a new trial, after the judge said he made an error in his jury instructions that may have prejudiced the outcome. U.S. District Judge Michael Davis on Wednesday granted Jammie Thomas’ motion for a new trial in the case, brought by the Recording Industry Association of America that alleged she illegally downloaded copywritten material off the peer to peer site Kazaa. Additionally, the judge urged Congress to redefine the definition of peer-to-peer piracy and prevent exorbitant fines to be levied against other defendants in similar situations, according to his ruling.
Thomas was initially found guilty of downloading 24 songs and ordered her ordered to pay $222,000 to six record companies. That equates to $9,250 per downloaded song. With the order of the new trial, Davis declined to rule on the fine, instead deferring that decision to the next round of litigation. Davis’s declared the mistrial because he said he believes he misled the jury in the initial court case when he told the jury that sharing music was the same as distributing it.
Source: CRN
Comments(56)
lolol a cd has about 15 songs 9,250 per song = very expensive cd.
Yeah right, this was probably all staged. Prosecuting someone for downloading 24 songs, funny one indeed…
This was staged to put fear into people..Someone (not this woman) will pay this 222.000, but they will “profit” a lot more in the long run just by raising people awareness that things like this will no longer be tolareted…
Good Lord! Hope they never get my stash of music! Chances are I would owe more than the national debt.
Surely sharing music IS the same as distributing it ?
Such exuberant fines cannot accord to any reasonable logic, and are transparent scare tactics, making a mockery of the american legal system.
only 24 songs?? lol they could of made up a more beleaveable number like.. 80-200??
blah blah blah:P dont worrie they just blowing there bags:P
new business strategy for music industry:
make a new album, put them on p2p, find downloaders, sue them, big payment.
just like Davenport Lyons….
@3
I doubt anyone could pass Bush’s debt. He’s added over a Trillion every year.
She should be given the lethal injection.
P2P is for tardz.
Yay piracy! But does she look like a nig? She looks kinda niggish to me.
http://www.uberreview.com/wp-content/uploads/jammiethomas.jpg
blelehehelbhabhlalbalblabala FAKE
this sounds like shes the only one who downloads a cd there are people out there who download everything they listen and thats about 95% of the poeple
lmaorofl..and ppl wonder why america is goin down the pan..GET OUT BEFORE ITS TOO LATE..STILL ROFL
total fckdup country, i have about 50000 songs now in my computer, FU RIAA catch me btches. Im rich b1atch hah x)
Can I borrow your CD so I can listen to see if I want to buy it?
Good, RIAA has won zero cases now.
MPA will face this reality, too.
Activision is worst story I’ve heard so far.
$100k for a downloaded COD3 iso!!!
That games blows and can be had for $5 used.
The abusive scare-tactics are just pitiful.
@14 LOL
you will have to pay 462.5 million dollars ROFL!!!
Millions of people illegally download games, music and Movies ect everyday and the authorities have managed to catch one person!!? Ha ha ha i’m sooooo scared !
@15 Hahahahahahaha…your logic makes sense to me!
The lession here is, don’t use Kazaa. That’s just plain stoooopid.
Achtung Baby!!
this is most stupid case the RIAA could ever have done, seriously it was just a lame attempt to scare user into not downloading, if there were really wanted to prosecute people then they should atleast get someone who downloads more than 24 damn songs.. geez the funding put into the RIAA and all they come up with is a single user who downloads 24 tracks.
yo, here is a pleasent one, i have every album ever recorded by atleast 50 artists and a few one off albums here and there. all these are FULL albums not single songs from random albums.
if i have to guess, id have a lending library of music.
if these were downloaded i be able to pay for a new community for the homeless and rehab location for ex junkies.
its nice that i have over 10,000 cds
p.s. this is all thanks to the library and friends and pay download sites like allofmp3.com
people still use kazaa?!? seriously?
What really suck is now in america they can check any digital media (ipod, laptop, PDA ,ect…) crossing any border or flight for terrorist information, if they happen to find any copyrighted material on your media they can and will prosecute. there is plenty of examples, just google it.
LOL Kazaa! LOL 24 songs! It sounds like that judge downloads a lot…
@14 i guess u owe them 4.6 billion
they’re seriously nuts..
you can download a track legally for less than 2$
fine for illegal sharing should be 50$/song maximum.. which is 25 times (!) the price of the object.. doesnt that sound fair?
Kazzaa? shoul dthere not be a fine for using the worlds crappiest and most unreliable P2P system? What a tool!
24 songs? LOOOL what do they do to the people that dl 10 albuns a month? 24 songs?? are you kidding me.. thats nothing! why dont they go after a person with 12 000 songs?
Stupid government for buying into RIAA argument that they are entitled to a ridiculous amount of money they are owed for someone who made available MP3 for sharing. What they are entitled to is 3 times the amount per music shared which I think is more reasonable.
Ok, so what about those tens of thousands of people who downloaded the music from that person? Then go after those people who downloaded it and charge them 3 times the amount of the music they have downloaded. RIAA doesnt wan’t to do its work on going after the hundreds of thousands of people who illegally download music instead they are just going dump it on someone who they can easily target and bully their way through.
Stupid is as stupid does.
Lol ok She deserves to pay that much for still using kazaa
you know whats SO funny. Women are the ONLY victims from these… seriously, its ALWAYS a woman.. haha i guess im lucky!
Screw Kazaa! BearShare Pro (old version, 5.4.3.1) all the way! Don’t forget RapidShare and of course torrents.
Admin. please delete racist comments like @11 – it’s totally pointless and idiotic and rednecks like that should be skinned alive..
She was using KAZA when all of you were using it too. Her case is few years old. – Canadian judge says filesharing is equal to make photocopy of a book at the library. He says if it is no law against that he cannot have case against people who exchange notes instead of written materials. Case closed here, at least is quiet in the northern-front.
@jiggaboo looks like she might be hispanic, i don’t think niggish
j
September 26th, 2008 | 12:25
@3
I doubt anyone could pass Bush’s debt. He’s added over a Trillion every year.
And you have failed math muh-boy, Bush has indeed added THREE Trillion (not a trillion a year as you say, according to the US Treasury) but he is paying off a major mistake of Bill Clinton for not accepting Osama when he was offered him six different times in the 1990’s. And Janet Reno should be charged with murder as she was the one telling him no over and over. Germany-Russia-Syria-and three other countries showed documentation that they could have offered OSama to Clinton, but Clinton refused to accept and now look at the mess he left us in. You really need to pay attention to history instead of the DNC.
Ha, gutted
#38
what a douche…
The fault that america is what it is now, is a guy who left 8 years ago with sulprus $550 bilion
and its mith about offering Osama to Clinton, israel would jump him instantly
btw read this you moron
http://mediamatters.org/items/200406220008
@ 27
nah they owe me that much, not really but i take it anyways. :p Sorry.
She wasn’t convicted of a P2P “crime”. No criminal charges were ever brought against her and I do not believe that anyone has ever been criminally convicted for pirating material for personal use as opposed to selling copywrited material. The RIAA brought a civil suit against her which has a much different burden of proof and legal standard.
Once the RIAA and the MPAA get reasonable and stop demanding tens of thousands of dollars per download, one of these judgments might actually stick.
lol! thats what happens when u use torrents! LMAO!
Hey, someone could have connected to her Wireless Network and downloaded those songs! Anything could have been possible here and a simple IP address cannot be the final verdict on someone.
OMFG, dude..i download 100GB a week & still typing this comment lol, i know ppl out there who download more, actually a lot more
and they only cough the poor lady, they definitely need to update their DATABASE..lmao
24 songs? Kazzaa?
Yeah, and I am from Jupiter.
LOL. I wonder if she still listens to her CD….ROFL!
It’s so weird how every forum ends up talking about the American elections, this video says it best for sure:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRkeYKFtmXA
The woman deserves life imprisonment.
P2P sux mega.
If you want it, buy it.
You are all a bunch of cheapskates. Go get a job and earn some $$.
so for this I don’t downlooding any music files , just movie , games , software , Ebook,……
LOOOOL
Comment 11: “Yay piracy! But does she look like a nig? She looks kinda niggish to me.”
You should be ashamed of yourselves for even allowing this to be posted RLSLOG
I can’t believe what a sad bunch of freaks leave comments here… oh yeah, you’re all SO much better than those who use P2P.
Take a good look at yourselves, you’re as sad as the next person.
Keep this in mind. She downloaded bits off many people. They should not be able to prosecute because she never got the full songs off them, and they can’t bust you for just connecting to their P2P Client. As with torrent files, the more indirectly linked you are… the less chance they can shut you down. AM I RIGHT GOOGLE?
Hey call me crackerish….. I think #11 had the best comment I’ve ever seen. Then I clicked the link and though..HOLY CRAP I think he’s right…
Question tho….Is she black? Maybe Blackinese?
It’s only a word people….. only a word…
lol “@ 48 =might be a little off topic but who gives 1 ..funny:)
#40
Read this…. Clinton WAS offered bin Laden.
The government of Sudan, employing a back channel direct from its president to the Central Intelligence Agency, offered in the early spring of 1996 to arrest Osama bin Laden and place him in Saudi custody, according to officials and former officials in all three countries. .
The Clinton administration struggled to find a way to accept the offer in secret contacts that stretched from a meeting at a Rosslyn hotel on March 3, 1996, to a fax that closed the door on the effort 10 weeks later. Unable to persuade the Saudis to accept bin Laden, and lacking a case to indict him in U.S. courts at the time, the Clinton administration finally gave up on the capture.
http://www.infowars.com/saved%20pages/Prior_Knowledge/Clinton_let_bin_laden.htm
http://opinionjournal.com/columnists/rminiter/?id=95001289
http://www.prisonplanet.com/sudan_offered_to_arrest_bin_laden.html
http://www.judicialwatch.org/weeklyupdate/2008/34-new-information-clinton-administration-osama-bin-laden
Don’t believe those left wing wacko sites like MediaMatters, Huffington Post, and DailyKoz.