National Ledger - Jammie Thomas Music Download Trial Do-Over: Misleading Jury Instructions?

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By Tina Johnson May 19, 2008

Jammie Thomas of Minnesota was ordered to pay $222,000 to the RIAA last October. A jury awarded the huge settlement after hearing the case and getting what some say were misleading jury instructions from a judge. Thomas was hit with the lawsuit after allegedly sharing music on the Kazaa network and her attorneys asked for a new trial way back in October 2007.

Jammie Thomas Music Download Trial Do-Over: Misleading Jury Instructions?

CNET is reporting that U.S. District Judge Michael Davis wrote Thursday that he was "contemplating granting a new trial." That's because, Davis said, he may have wrongly instructed the jury that merely making a copyrighted song available in a shared folder amounts to infringement.

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According to Daily Tech, in October, when Capitol Records v. Jammie Thomas wrapped up, members of the jury were told that the act of making music available for download was all that was needed to prove that Thomas infringed record labels’ copyrights – attorneys for the RIAA compared this to someone displaying pirate DVDs for sale at a table.

The speculation is that the instruction likely cost Thomas her victory and a short while later the jury awarded plaintiffs $222,000 in damages for Thomas’ act of “making available” 24 songs for download. Oral arguments on this are set for July 1 of this year.

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