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Attorneys rest case in Duluth music file sharing trial
Mark Stodghill, Duluth News Tribune
Published Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Jammie Thomas testified Wednesday that she had never even heard of KaZaA and never used the peer-to-peer file sharing service on her computer at the time the Recording Industry Association of America accuses her of pirating their music.
But a computer security expert for the recording industry said all computer forensic evidence points to Thomas being guilty of copyright infringement.
A six-man, six-woman jury in U.S. District Court in Duluth will hear the attorneysâ closing arguments today and decide the first file-sharing copyright infringement case to go to trial.
nvestigators for the plaintiffs have provided jurors evidence that the IP address (a number assigned to a subscriber connected to an Internet Service Provider), a modem Media Access Control address and Thomasâ username all link her to the pirating.
Minneapolis defense attorney Brian Toder said he and Thomas canât explain what happened, but that it canât be proven that his client shared copyrighted files. Toder has offered theories that there could have been a computer party at Thomasâs home or someone could have been outside her window with a laptop.
Thomas testified that despite the plaintiffs producing exhibits with her computer identifiers printed next to the computer screenshots, she was not the one
who uploaded the music to the file-sharing service. She had no explanation for why she was identified as the pirate.
Toder has also suggested that computer hacking or IP spoofing could as explanations. Spoofing is someone pretending to be somebody else by taking over their IP address.
âMy opinion is that it did not happen,â Doug Jacobson, an Iowa State University professor and computer security expert, testified. âMaking IP spoofing work is extremely complicated. Pretending to be somebody else at the same time theyâre on the Internet is almost impossible to carry out.ââ
The lawsuit was brought by the Recording Industry Association of America â representing Virgin Records, Capitol Records, Sony BMG, Arista Records, Interscope Records, Warner Bros. Records and UMG Recordings.
It claims that Thomas of Brainerd, Minn., distributed 1,702 digital audio files â many of them the plaintiffsâ copyrighted sound recordings â from the KaZaA shared folder on her computer to potentially millions of other KaZaA users for free.
The plaintiffs are seeking from $750 to $150,000 in statutory damages for each of 24 copyrighted sound recordings they allege Thomas pirated.
A 25th sound recording was dropped from the case by the plaintiffs Wednesday because of a âclerical/lawyer error,ââ their lawyer said.
Richard Gabriel, lead trial counsel for the record industry, called witnesses to show that Thomas replaced the hard drive in her computer two weeks after an investigation by the music industry caught the alleged copyright infringement.
In his questioning, Gabriel pointed out to jurors that in two depositions Thomas had said she had the hard drive replaced before she knew she was being investigated. Under examination by Gabriel, Thomas said that her computer was in her bedroom, was password protected and no one else had the password.
Toder kept his client on the stand for only three minutes after she was questioned by the plaintiffs. She said she misstated the year the hard drive was erased. She provided no further explanation.
The plaintiffs suffered a blow Wednesday when U.S. District Judge Michael J. Davis didnât allow them to call to testify Cary Sherman, president of the RIAA. Sherman had traveled from Washington, D.C., to testify of the harm widespread illegal sharing causes the industry.
Toder had argued that Sherman wasnât relevant to the case against his client. Gabriel told the court that it was relevant in helping jurors to calculate statutory damages.
life-changing ordeal
Thomas, 30, is employed by the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe in its natural resources and environment department. She works as a grant coordinator to redevelop contaminated property. She testified that she has a bachelorâs degree in business administration from St. Cloud State University. Gabriel used his questioning to point out how proficient Thomas is on a computer. The defendant has taken several computer classes and uses a computer to keep track of budgets and write grants.
Thomas spoke to a News Tribune reporter during the noon recess Tuesday. The single mother of two children, ages 8 and 11, said the lawsuit has changed her life.
âItâs been very stressful,â she said. âI have multi-billion dollar corporations with their own economies of scale suing me so itâs been very stressful.ââ
She said the lawsuit has also affected her children. âI no longer have any disposable income whatsoever,â she said. âMy disposable income used to go for CDs, but obviously not anymore. Iâve had to make some changes regarding extras for my children. All the disposable income went towards this case. I didnât do this and I refuse to be bullied.â
Thomas testified that she has 240 CDs, but at one time had more than 400.
At times, Toder, an International Falls native who is recognized as a Super Lawyer by Minnesota Law and Politics Magazine, seems to be telling jurors that this is a âbig guy vs. little galââ case.
Toder has told jurors that he couldnât afford to pay for an expert witness. He pointed out that the plaintiffs have paid $200 an hour to their computer security expert who testified at trial. The plaintiffs show jurors clear exhibits produced from a computer. Toder struggles with cloudy transparencies on an overhead projector. Davis on a couple of occasions has asked the plaintiffs to display Toderâs exhibits so that they will be clear to jurors.
There are six members of the plaintiffsâ briefcase brigade with assistants passing notes to the two lawyers and one music industry official at the plaintiffâs counsel table. Meanwhile, Toder sometimes needs the help of his client in searching for papers heâs looking for.
Toder asked his opposing counsel, Gabriel, if he could borrow his laser pointer as he showed jurors one exhibit. The plaintiffâs attorney gave it to him and joked with a smile: âIt will cost you.ââ
Closing arguments are scheduled for this morning. Davis will read jurors the law that they are to follow and six men and six women will decide a case that is being followed around the world.
VERDICT:
Trial - $220,000 for 24 Recordings
Ars Technica is reporting that the RIAA has won its first jury trail.
After just four hours of deliberation and two days of testimony, a jury found that Jammie Thomas was liable for infringing the record labelsâ copyrights on all 24 the 24 recordings at issue in the case of Capitol Records v. Jammie Thomas. The jury awarded $9,250 in statutory damages per song, after finding that the infringement was âwillful,â out of a possible total of $150,000 per song. The grand total? $222,000 in damages.
A jury made the decision that Thomas was guilty, but the amount per recording seems like cruel and unusual punishment to me. I hope Thomas can afford to appeal the verdict.
Mark Stodghill, Duluth News Tribune
Published Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Jammie Thomas testified Wednesday that she had never even heard of KaZaA and never used the peer-to-peer file sharing service on her computer at the time the Recording Industry Association of America accuses her of pirating their music.
But a computer security expert for the recording industry said all computer forensic evidence points to Thomas being guilty of copyright infringement.
A six-man, six-woman jury in U.S. District Court in Duluth will hear the attorneysâ closing arguments today and decide the first file-sharing copyright infringement case to go to trial.
nvestigators for the plaintiffs have provided jurors evidence that the IP address (a number assigned to a subscriber connected to an Internet Service Provider), a modem Media Access Control address and Thomasâ username all link her to the pirating.
Minneapolis defense attorney Brian Toder said he and Thomas canât explain what happened, but that it canât be proven that his client shared copyrighted files. Toder has offered theories that there could have been a computer party at Thomasâs home or someone could have been outside her window with a laptop.
Thomas testified that despite the plaintiffs producing exhibits with her computer identifiers printed next to the computer screenshots, she was not the one
who uploaded the music to the file-sharing service. She had no explanation for why she was identified as the pirate.
Toder has also suggested that computer hacking or IP spoofing could as explanations. Spoofing is someone pretending to be somebody else by taking over their IP address.
âMy opinion is that it did not happen,â Doug Jacobson, an Iowa State University professor and computer security expert, testified. âMaking IP spoofing work is extremely complicated. Pretending to be somebody else at the same time theyâre on the Internet is almost impossible to carry out.ââ
The lawsuit was brought by the Recording Industry Association of America â representing Virgin Records, Capitol Records, Sony BMG, Arista Records, Interscope Records, Warner Bros. Records and UMG Recordings.
It claims that Thomas of Brainerd, Minn., distributed 1,702 digital audio files â many of them the plaintiffsâ copyrighted sound recordings â from the KaZaA shared folder on her computer to potentially millions of other KaZaA users for free.
The plaintiffs are seeking from $750 to $150,000 in statutory damages for each of 24 copyrighted sound recordings they allege Thomas pirated.
A 25th sound recording was dropped from the case by the plaintiffs Wednesday because of a âclerical/lawyer error,ââ their lawyer said.
Richard Gabriel, lead trial counsel for the record industry, called witnesses to show that Thomas replaced the hard drive in her computer two weeks after an investigation by the music industry caught the alleged copyright infringement.
In his questioning, Gabriel pointed out to jurors that in two depositions Thomas had said she had the hard drive replaced before she knew she was being investigated. Under examination by Gabriel, Thomas said that her computer was in her bedroom, was password protected and no one else had the password.
Toder kept his client on the stand for only three minutes after she was questioned by the plaintiffs. She said she misstated the year the hard drive was erased. She provided no further explanation.
The plaintiffs suffered a blow Wednesday when U.S. District Judge Michael J. Davis didnât allow them to call to testify Cary Sherman, president of the RIAA. Sherman had traveled from Washington, D.C., to testify of the harm widespread illegal sharing causes the industry.
Toder had argued that Sherman wasnât relevant to the case against his client. Gabriel told the court that it was relevant in helping jurors to calculate statutory damages.
life-changing ordeal
Thomas, 30, is employed by the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe in its natural resources and environment department. She works as a grant coordinator to redevelop contaminated property. She testified that she has a bachelorâs degree in business administration from St. Cloud State University. Gabriel used his questioning to point out how proficient Thomas is on a computer. The defendant has taken several computer classes and uses a computer to keep track of budgets and write grants.
Thomas spoke to a News Tribune reporter during the noon recess Tuesday. The single mother of two children, ages 8 and 11, said the lawsuit has changed her life.
âItâs been very stressful,â she said. âI have multi-billion dollar corporations with their own economies of scale suing me so itâs been very stressful.ââ
She said the lawsuit has also affected her children. âI no longer have any disposable income whatsoever,â she said. âMy disposable income used to go for CDs, but obviously not anymore. Iâve had to make some changes regarding extras for my children. All the disposable income went towards this case. I didnât do this and I refuse to be bullied.â
Thomas testified that she has 240 CDs, but at one time had more than 400.
At times, Toder, an International Falls native who is recognized as a Super Lawyer by Minnesota Law and Politics Magazine, seems to be telling jurors that this is a âbig guy vs. little galââ case.
Toder has told jurors that he couldnât afford to pay for an expert witness. He pointed out that the plaintiffs have paid $200 an hour to their computer security expert who testified at trial. The plaintiffs show jurors clear exhibits produced from a computer. Toder struggles with cloudy transparencies on an overhead projector. Davis on a couple of occasions has asked the plaintiffs to display Toderâs exhibits so that they will be clear to jurors.
There are six members of the plaintiffsâ briefcase brigade with assistants passing notes to the two lawyers and one music industry official at the plaintiffâs counsel table. Meanwhile, Toder sometimes needs the help of his client in searching for papers heâs looking for.
Toder asked his opposing counsel, Gabriel, if he could borrow his laser pointer as he showed jurors one exhibit. The plaintiffâs attorney gave it to him and joked with a smile: âIt will cost you.ââ
Closing arguments are scheduled for this morning. Davis will read jurors the law that they are to follow and six men and six women will decide a case that is being followed around the world.
VERDICT:
Trial - $220,000 for 24 Recordings
Ars Technica is reporting that the RIAA has won its first jury trail.
After just four hours of deliberation and two days of testimony, a jury found that Jammie Thomas was liable for infringing the record labelsâ copyrights on all 24 the 24 recordings at issue in the case of Capitol Records v. Jammie Thomas. The jury awarded $9,250 in statutory damages per song, after finding that the infringement was âwillful,â out of a possible total of $150,000 per song. The grand total? $222,000 in damages.
A jury made the decision that Thomas was guilty, but the amount per recording seems like cruel and unusual punishment to me. I hope Thomas can afford to appeal the verdict.
