File sharing court case may get retrial

If you read various blogs and websites today, you'll see that most of them think it's okay to illegally download music. I'm not sure why. If everyone stole records, then there would be no need to hang around waiting for bozo writer reviews would there? No, it strikes me that the blogs want to appear like 'they're one of the fans', not like those big nasty magazines who side with the recording industry and all their sponsorship. Before I start ranting, you can have out thoughts on the illegal download thing by clicking here and here.

Anyway, all this talk of downloads is in the fore thanks to Jammie Thomas. Remember? In a federal courtroom in Duluth, Minnesota, Jammie was accused of using KaZaA to download and offer for distribution almost 2000 songs. She was in one corner, and in the other, the Legion of Doom tag team (or EMI, Sony BMG, Interscope Records and Warner. This was a case of copyright infringement based on the premise that offering these files through KaZaA, Jammie was distributing the music and they felt that was illegal. She lost... however...

In Duluth, the court sided with the RIAA and the jury awarded $9,250 per song to the labels seeking damages. What seems to have ruffled the blog-scribbles hair is that this is all a bit heavy handed. Sure 'nuff, it does seem that these cats in suits are trying to make an example of Jammie. Maybe people would have been a bit more understanding if the accused wasn't a woman... a woman with a cool name like Jammie. Man, if they were gunning for a guy called Ahmed or something... [insert your own rolling eyes here].

Anyway, the U.S. District Judge Michael Davis has filed an order saying that he might have made a mistake when he told the jury that uploading music to a file-sharing network could be considered illegal distribution. He said that he might have made a "manifest error of law" in what he said, and is considering granting a new trial. Jammie's case came down to 24 songs out of an original 1,702. The total sum she now has to pay out is $220,000, plus legal fees, and the world is watching as Jammie will be put into a bankruptcy-like situation over 24 songs, without any bad intent on her part. Well, if any of these righteous scribes are watching, they'll be thrilled to know that the vast majority of that last paragraph was lifted wholesale from another site. I'm not going to credit them because it seems that the creative process is fair game and you can take whut the hell you like.

Of course, what is getting the dander up around various blinking screens is that this looks like the big boys trying to drown a kitten. Jammie said: "It's been very stressful. I have multibillion-dollar corporations with their own economies of scale suing me. All my disposable income went toward this case. I didn't do this, and I refuse to be bullied." Yeah, but listen up... you DID steal a load of records and as such, should be treated like petty thief that you are. I agree that this is hardly Grand Theft Audio... but man, you got busted, so take it on the chin. Hell, that may seem a bit backward in this 'fast moving technological age', but dammit, I give a shit about my bands, and they're the ones losing out in all of this. These big-ass companies have money to throw around because they've diversified through film, games and whatnot, the bands? Getting robbed in the name of sticking it to 'the man'.

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adios electric shithead