RIAA victory could bolster campaign against illegal file sharing

Computerworld - Look for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to try and use Thursday's courtroom victory in a file-sharing case in Minnesota to push those it has filed similar cases against to quickly settle, according to some legal experts.

A federal jury in Duluth, Minn., ordered Jammie Thomas of Minneapolis to pay $222,000 to six recording companies for illegally downloading and sharing 24 music files with others over a Kazaa file-sharing network. The 12-person jury said Thomas must pay $9,250 for each of the 24 songs that were the focus of the case, the first ever of its kind to go before a trial court.

The verdict is sure to be used "as a banner by the RIAA" in its campaign against those it suspects of illegal file sharing, said Charles Mudd Jr., a Chicago-based lawyer whose firm has represented more than 100 clients in RIAA lawsuits.

"The jury verdict will add credence to and bolster the RIAA campaign of pursuing file sharers," Mudd said. "I believe the monetary award has some significant deficiencies, but nonetheless, the jury verdict will support the RIAA in its continuing effort to pursue those it believes have illegally stolen copyrighted music," he said.

According to Mudd, the $222,000 in damages is much higher than what many would consider to be reasonable compensation for any real damages that the recording companies might have suffered as a result of Thomas' actions. Even when statutory damages are claimed, the threshold that is typically applied is about 10 times the actual damages caused to a plaintiff, Mudd said.

It's unclear how the verdict will influence the thousands of similar lawsuits that the RIAA is currently pursuing against individuals, Mudd said. But a lot depends on the individual circumstances surrounding each case. For instance, several of the individuals that Mudd's firm has represented in RIAA lawsuits denied they illegally downloaded or shared copyrighted music, he said. In cases where the forensic evidence supported that claim, it has been a relatively straightforward task getting the RIAA to drop its claims.

But where the forensic evidence shows that an individual may have been illegally sharing files, it may be far cheaper to accept the RIAA settlement offer than to try and fight it, especially in light of yesterday's verdict, he said. "I don't agree with the RIAA's tactics and I don't agree with their settlement amounts," he said. "But paying $4,000 to settle is certainly much better than what happened in Minnesota."

Mark Avsec, a partner at Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan and Aronoff LLP and a former member of the 1970s rock band Wild Cherry, said the verdict would have a "deterrent effect to some extent" on those inclined to indulge in illegal file sharing. "It's going to make people think twice. It sends a message to the real flagrant file sharers that the Copyright Act is real and if you don't settle the actions that the RIAA is vigorously pursuing, you could be liable for real significant damages."