File-Sharer Gets Fine Lowered from $2 Million to $54,000

The content industry's fight against piracy has had some very clear victories last year, though the war is far from over. In a landmark ruling, one 'pirate' was ordered to pay $1.92 million in damages to the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) for unforgivable crime of making 24 songs available over a file-sharing network. You would think that the felon, one Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a single mother from Minnesota, would have learned her lesson, but apparently she believed that the damages, awarded by a jury of her peers, were a bit too steep and asked a judge to have them at least reduced.

Interestingly, Judge Michael Davis agreed with her and, despite the support for the original ruling by the US Department of Justice, believed that the statutory damages were not in line with the actual harm done. In his decision, he lowered the damages from $80,000 per song to the much more 'reasonable' $2,250 per song. With the lowered fine, the woman would have to pay the RIAA only $54,000.

This marks the latest development in a case which has been unraveling for a couple of years. Just like thousands or tens of thousands of other Americans Thomas-Rasset was originally sent a settlement letter from the RIAA for her alleged copyright infringements. Unlike the thousands of others, she refused to pay the amount demanded by the recording industry which had no choice but to go to court.

In a first trial, she was found guilty and ordered to pay $200,000 for her infringements. She was originally accused of sharing over 2,000 songs, but the charge was later dropped to just 24. Last year though, the woman was re-tried after several mistakes in the first court battle were discovered. This went worse though, as the jury found her guilty again and ordered her to pay almost $2 million in damages. The amount was appealed resulting now in the reduced fine. Apparently, both Thomas-Rasset and the recording industry are contemplating their move and may both end up appealing this decision as well.