Posted on 06/18/2009 6:29:59 PM PDT by dayglored
A federal jury Thursday found a 32-year-old Minnesota woman guilty of illegally downloading music from the Internet and fined her $80,000 each a total of $1.9 million for 24 songs.
Jammie Thomas-Rassets case was the first such copyright infringement case to go to trial in the United States, her attorney said.
Attorney Joe Sibley said that his client was shocked at fine, noting that the price tag on the songs she downloaded was 99 cents...
(Excerpt) Read more at cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com ...
A cold beer says that it will be a California jury.
Stuff like this will only help speed up the death throes of the mainstream music industry, which is fine by me.
It’s sort of a greatest hits compilation.
Too bad I wasn't on that jury...I would have been more than happy to introduce the concept.
“The RIAA is trying to make up for years of stupidity (on their own part) for not recognizing a decade ago that the business model had to change.”
Using your logic, we should all go down and steal the cars off the sales lots of GM and Chrysler, because their business models failed?
I have thought for decades that conservatism was about rule of law, sanctity of contract, and other archaic aspects of our society.
How old fashioned. I guess my society model is failed, outdated?
Amateur level maybe where you are at but at a pro level it’s a different ballgame.I’ve been in the biz for 30 years and the public has no idea what an average investment of a cd cost/record/album is.Each product can easily be in the millions.
My main gripe with this (other than the ridiculous scale of the fine) is that it means that "intent" alone is sufficient for conviction of file-sharing.
I find that a very dangerous "thought-crime" precedent.
Understand, I'm very sensitive to IP issues, I make my living on proprietary software and (to a small degree) making music. But this precedent is not good for freedom of thought and action.
Of course not.
I'm not justifying what she did, for cryin' out loud. She was wrong, and guilty.
But your analogy is flawed and illogical.
Taking real physical property like cars is stealing. If you don't understand the legal and ethical issues that differentiate intellectual property, file-sharing, and physical property, I can't help you, I don't have the time. Read up on it.
Me too. This is really sticking it to a person.
But what did you expect from a bunch of music thugs who are and have always been crooks. They have been stealing from the public from day one.
Depends. An awful lot of successful music CDs are being produced these days for a fraction of that amount. Mega-hits, no of course not. But successful, in that they recoup their investment and make profit.
Tell me, since I'm not real clear on this: Say a track sells on iTunes or Amazon for 99cents. Who gets how much of that buck? How much does the artist see? How much the store? how much goes into actual musical production (recording, mixing)? how much to promo? and how much goes to the middlefolks?
No, of course not.
Likewise, she put forth for download her songs, which were created by musicians, and the Internet version of a listener (ie: downloader) heard them.
Yet, she pays.
Hypocrisy is a poison to society.
You didn't read my comment. Sharing like she did is WRONG. Now do you get it?
But you're still stuck on flawed physical property analogies. Intellectual property and copyright infringement are different from physical property rights.
You probably think that if I buy a CD (legally, at the store), and make two copies so I can play one in my car and one in the shop, that I'm "stealing", right?
If not, then you disagree with the RIAA too.
Somehow having 1700 songs out for swapping makes me not feel very sorry for her. With not taking a plea bargain, I feel even less sorry.
She broke the law no matter if it is a good law or bad — it is still the law and she didn’t just break it a little but went all in with 1700 songs.
Guess I am in the minority but she ripped off artists no matter how crappy they and some of the industry are — she was at fault.
I know someone who downloaded the audio of a book she already owned. She got an email from her provider telling her of the copyright infringement and told her to stop downloading books illegally.
Go to the library, borrow it, copy it, take it back. They’ll never know.
“Taking real physical property like cars is stealing. “
And according the the laws, and this case, and many more, intellectual property is protected by laws.
The fine will likely be reduced, but the principle will be upheld.
You play you pay. LOL
I stopped buying music years ago. Don’t need it, not worth it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.