Capitol Records, RIAA v. Jammie Thomas-Rasset: Take-3
Yesterday, the third installment in the Jammie Thomas-Rasset case began in the district court of Minnesota. As has been noted by several others, this case only involves the issue of damages, not liability.
Recall back in 2009, a jury found Ms. Thomas-Rasset liable for infringing the copyrights on 24 songs and awarded the record company $1.92 million dollars in statutory damages. On granting a motion for remittitur, Judge Michael Davis reduced the damages to $54,000 noting that the statutory damages must bear some relation to the actual damages incurred by the plaintiffs.
When a judge reduces damages on remittitur, the plaintiff then has two immediate procedural options: accept the reduction or have a new trial on the issue of damages. In this case, Capitol Records opted for the new trial.
Since the previous trial already resolved the issue of liability, the only issue before the jury in this case is the amount of damages that should apply. At the heart of this issue are the “statutory damages” provisions in the Copyright Act, which lay out a spectrum of damages per instance of infringement. If the infringement is proved to be “willful,” as was the case in the Thomas-Rasset trial, the spectrum is $750 – $150,000 per instance of infringement. Since there were 24 songs at issue, that’s 24 instances of infringement. For Ms. Thomas-Rasset, this means the jury can award Capitol Records somewhere between $18,000 – $3.6 million.
Since this is an abbreviated trial, I would expect arguments and witness examinations by the attorneys to conclude quickly–probably either today or tomorrow. Then the Judge Michael Davis will issue jury instructions and send the jury off to deliberate over the award of damages. Updates will be posted as soon as they are known.
Huge thanks to Ars Technica for their endless coverage.
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Posted in: Commentary, Links on November 3, 2010
