Thomas-Rasset Gets Huge Fine

In the only file-sharing case to go to trial in the US, a jury in Minnesota has found Jammie Thomas-Rasset, guilty and ordered to her topay $1.9 million (£1.2m). Her first trial ended without a verdict.

A spokeswoman for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) said the companies are willing to settle out of court for a much smaller amount. Most people targeted by the RIAA had settled for around £1,500 each. The massive damage award, which increased from $9,250 per song in the first trial to $80,000, might sounds could actually work against the RIAA and further entrench those who support file sharing.

With Thomas-Rasset and the defense team talking hard about continuing the fight and with such a huge fine it looks certain that the battle was won by the RIAA but that the war is far from over.

Companies including Sony, BMI, Universal and Warner Music say they are now concentrating on working with internet service providers to crack down on the worst offenders of file-sharing.

Pirates: One Step Forward , Two steps Back

France's top legal body, the Constitutional Council, which examines whether bills that have been passed by the French parliament are in accordance with the French constitution, has rejected a key provision of the new legislation aimed at punishing internet pirates. The law, approved last month, gives officials the power to remove web access for those caught repeatedly downloading protected material. However the Council ruled that only a judge could bar people from the web, describing access to online services as a human right.

Some consumer groups had warned that the wrong people might be punished, should hackers hijack their computers' identity, and that the scheme amounted to state surveillance.

We then have the case of the RIAA versus Jammie Thomas-Rasset in her retrial in Minnesota. The defence lawyers Kiwi Camara and Harvard Law professor Charles Nesson aimed to question the very substance of the RIAA case to file a class-action lawsuit against the recording industry later this summer.

However they have already had one set back as their attempt to bar Media Sentry’s evidence on the grounds that they were not licensed as a private investigator in Minnesota has been thrown out. They still aim to challenge the RIAA to prove it owns the certified copies of the copyrights in question. If it can't establish that fact, the case could be dismissed.