Free for a Fee

It was only a matter of time: Jammie Thomas-Rasset has asked the federal judge overseeing her file-sharing lawsuit to toss the .92 million damage award, reduce it to the statutory minimum of ,000, or grant her a new trial.

The motion, filed today in Minnesota federal court, is blunt. “The verdict in this case was shocking,” it begins. “For 24 songs, available for .29 on iTunes, the jury assessed statutory damages of ,000 per song—a ratio of 1:62,015.
For 24 albums, available for no more than at the store, the jury assessed statutory
damages of ,000 per album—a ratio of 1:5,333. For a single mother’s
noncommercial use of KaZaA, and upon neither finding nor evidence of actual injury to
the plaintiffs, the judgment fines Jammie Thomas .92 million. Such a judgment is
grossly excessive and, therefore, subject to remittitur as a matter of federal common law.”

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