Kazaa File Sharer Gets Help Fighting Capitol ($1.5 million fine for 24 songs)

[The Straight Story]

Kazaa File Sharer Gets Help Fighting Capitol

(CN) - Imposing a $1.5 million fine against a woman who shared 24 songs is excessive and stifles innovation, a coalition of libraries, public interest and online privacy advocates told the 8th Circuit.

In a joint amicus brief filed Friday, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Internet Archive, the American Library Association and others urged the St. Louis-based federal appeals court to accept a reduced damage award against Jammie Thomas-Rasset.

Capitol Records sued Thomas-Rasset in 2006 for posting songs by bands like Aerosmith and Green Day on the peer-to-peer file-sharing program Kazaa.
Marking the first individual file-sharing action to go to trial, Thomas-Rasset was initially fined $220,000 for 24 songs that had been downloaded from her account.

But the judge convened a retrial, and a third jury ultimately awarded Capitol $1.5 million in damages. The judge reduced that figure to $54,000, calling the verdict "so severe and oppressive as to be wholly disproportionate to the offense and obviously unreasonable."

http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/02/14/43877.htm

[Politicalboi]

1. Can't she sue Kazaa

For allowing her to d/l songs. She wasn't selling her copies. $54,000 is ridiculous. She should only have to pay $240.00 max, and some minimal court costs.