First Music File Sharing Case to Go to Trial May Get Another Day in Court
Category: InternetPosted: May 16, 2008 07:49AM
Author: Nemo
Last fall we reported on the results of the first suit brought by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) that actually went to trial. In that case a Minnesota woman was ordered to pay $220,000 in restitution – a whopping $9,250 for each of the 24 songs she was accused of sharing. That’s a pretty steep fine for anyone much less a single mother making $36,000 a year. Now the judge in the case has ordered hearings for a new trial. U.S. District Court Judge Michael J. Davis said he has found a 1993 ruling that states infringement requires an actual dissemination of the copyrighted material, not merely making the material available. The “making the songs available for download” has been the center of the RIAA’s arguments, but has recently suffered setbacks in other cases as well.
