post Thursday October 4, 2012
More than 18,000 people were sued for illegal music sharing activities in the mid 2000s by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in the U.S. However, most of the cases were dropped or dismissed. One of the few exceptions is the case of Jammie Thomas-Rasset.
The court case started back in 2005, when the suspect was one of many accused by illegal file sharing. Legal action against Thomas-Rasset was taken for 24 works for efficiency but the accusations involved the downloading and sharing of more than 1700 music files.Several warnings have been sent to her before the action was taken in front of the court. Throughout the process, various appeals from Thomas-Rasset’s side took place and she rejected an initial settlement of $4,500 preceding the fine of $220,000 (€ 170,000), which she ultimately received.
The accused denied the use of the illegal file sharing server, however, her username has been found to be engaged in downloads which breached the law. Thomas-Rasset did not give up the fight when she was found guilty and continued filing for a reduction of the fine, arguing that its scale breached her legal rights. Nevertheless, the judge found the amount reasonable arguing with the scale of the offence and damage caused by the act of downloading illegal music. The RIAA stated that they were glad to close one more case of music trafficking.
Source: Novagraaf
Image Source: Free Digital Photos
