File-Sharing Mom Fights Back
NEW YORK(CBS/AP) If you share your music online, perhaps you should start saving now.
Last week we reported on a Minnesota mom who defended herself against the recording industry and got slapped with $1.92 million in fines for sharing 24 songs over the Internet.
Today, Jammie Thomas-Rasset was on CBS' The Early Show to make her case.
Thomas-Rasset was sued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for pirating music. But unlike most of the more than 30,000 other targets of RIAA pirating lawsuits, Thomas-Rasset fought back. Her case was the first of its kind to go to trial. In 2007 she lost. A jury awarded $222,000 to the RIAA, but the judge threw out the verdict because he believed he gave incorrect instructions to the jury.
That led to a second trial. Thomas-Rasset lost again. This time the jury ordered her to pay a whopping $1.92 million, or $80,000 per song.
"There's no way they're ever going to get that," Thomas-Rasset said after the verdict. "I'm a mom, limited means, so I'm not going to worry about it now."
Experts are divided on what the case means to the music industry. The heavy-handed verdict could intimidate those who share music online or create a negative backlash against an industry that is now trying to offer paid downloads as an alternative to swapping music for free.
PREVIOUSLY ON CRIMESIDER
June 19, 2009 - File-Sharing Mom Fined $1.9 Million
June 15, 2009 - Mom Against The Music Industry