I recently found an interesting article on the Verge concerning the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). For those of you who do not know the RIAA, they are usually the party who levy lawsuits against people who (allegedly) pirate copyrighted material. Although by no means are they the only party, in my previous blog posts I mentioned about Sony BMG who were awarded a sum of over six hundred thousand dollars in damages against the defendant Joel Tenenbaum who pirated thirty songs.
The RIAA on the other hand were recently awarded a mere 222,000 against Thomas-Rasset for pirating twenty two songs. This averages to only 9250 dollars per song as opposed to the case with Tenenbaum where the figure averaged to 22,500 dollars per song. Interesting note: when the jury originally awarded the RIAA with 222,000 the Judge ordered a retrial and the Jury awarded them a whopping 1.9 million dollars. The Eighth circuit court of appeal eventually returned the award to the original amount of 222,000. Thomas’ appeal to the Supreme Court was denied.
Some good news though, the RIAA have agreed to reduce the fine if Thomas makes a public statement, essentially denouncing her actions and piracy. A normal human being would take the opportunity and run, but Thomas has actually indicated that she will not make the statement and will just file for bankruptcy instead.
Talk about taking a stand. You have to actually admire the way Thomas is not letting the RIAA or the music industry push her around. Before the case came to trial the RIAA demanded 3,500 as a settlement, which may seem pretty small compared to 222,000 but lets face it its still excessive when we are talking about twenty-two songs.
Let me be clear, I do not approve of Tenenbaum’s actions, but I think bullying and harassing with excessive fines is even more despicable.
Sources:
http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/11/4514090/riaa-copyright-flie-sharing-fine-public-service-announcement
http://www.theverge.com/policy/2013/3/18/4119550/supreme-court-denies-appeal-of-woman-who-owes-riaa-222000
