Pirates Pay the Price...Part 2
posted Sunday Jan 31, 2010 by Kyria Gianos
Last week we brought you the court case involving willful copyright infringement by Jammie Thomas-Rasset in Minnesota. She was originally convicted of the crime and forced to pay $2 million dollars, just for downloading 24 songs without permission! Recently however, a judge decided to overturn the decision and instead charge Rasset only $54,000 in fines. The only part left to do for the decision to be finalized, was receiving approval for the new amount from the recording industry. Things can never be that easy!
From the beginning, the industry has made it pretty clear that they did not want the case to go to court in the first place, but unfortunately for them Thomas-Rasset refused to settle out of court with RIAA. Now that the judge has sliced the amount to $54,000, RIAA has decided to try once again to resolve the case out of the court room to avoid a third trial, silly RIAA. Thomas-Rasset has once again refused the new offer of $25,000, vowing that she will not pay any restitution at all.
Considering all the money will go directly to a musicians charity and Thomas-Rasset clearly has wronged the system, Judge Davis is outraged with her stubbornness stating, "Thomas-Rasset's refusal to accept responsibility for her actions and her decision to concoct a new theory of the infringement casting possible blame on her children and ex-boyfriend for her actions demonstrate a refusal to accept responsibility and raise the need for strong deterrence." Although it is a lot of money strictly for downloading music, which is one of the most common offenses in the U.S., all of this could have disappeared if she has originally taken the offer of a measly few thousand dollars, which has now turned into a much larger fee. The case seems like a small issue that became a large one when Thomas-Rasset refused to take responsibility for her actions. The amounts may have been excessive, but in an attempt to make an example out of her, the recording industry is continuing to pursue this matter until it is settled with some compensation.
