Though you may not realize it, something huge is going on in the music industry right now, and in Minnesota of all places. As of yesterday, opening statements have been issued, jurors chosen, and the case of Capitol Records, et al v. Jammie Thomas is now underway.
Why is this such a big deal? For the last few years — and I’m sure you will recognize this much, as it’s made some news — the RIAA (the legal arm of the major industry music labels) has been going directly after file sharers. More often than not, their targets also happen to be consumers as well. When this first broke the headlines, people were scared. After all, it seemed somebody with as little as five songs could get slapped with a subpoena. But, as time wore on, we calmed down. We had other things to worry about, and the chance of getting sued over music sharing was about as likely as getting struck by lightning.
The music industry has long claimed that piracy is damaging enough to their business to warrant some sort of legal action. Whether or not this claim is valid (and there is evidence both for and against), it’s the main rationale behind the shady tactics that the RIAA has been using to turn IP addresses into names that they can bring into a courtroom.
Anyway, the RIAA has gotten egg on its face already. They sued the wrong people. They sued people who are actually legally dead. They sued children. They sued the innocent. And boy, did it not work out well. The cost of PR spin alone must have been dizzying.
But now we’re onto something much bigger. Now, one of their names has decided to take them head-on in a full civil trial, and hefty legal fees (possible punitive damages can range anywhere from $750-30,000 per song) be damned.
In this case — and I’m just speculating here — the defendant is probably guilty of sharing all that music (which, by the way, constitutes copyright infringement, not out-and-out theft). In 2005, the RIAA notified Thomas that it had tracked her down through the KaZaA peer-to-peer file sharing service, came up with the numbers (to the tune about 1,700 songs — *rim shot*), and would take her to court if she didn’t settle. Thomas decided to fight the claim.
At least, this is the way I understand it. And because it looks like she might have actually shared the files and could win her case (at least, if the jury sees it her way), you can see why this is a big deal. I can’t say that I know the workings of the US civil court system very well, but the final verdict of this case could set a precedent that could protect file-sharers from further litigation tactics.
Regardless of my thoughts on the legality of file sharing and the rights of consumers to have digital copies of content they have already paid for, this is a very big deal. You can bet I’ll be watching the updates on this.
Ars Technica seems to be writing play-by-play articles on the trial. The links to the first few are below:
I’m too busy preparing for the O.J. trial. I’ll give up my eight-tracks when they pry them out of my cold dead hands