Judgment in music-sharing case adds up to piracy

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By Amelia Robinson, Staff Writer 6:07 PM Wednesday, June 24, 2009

“Seriously, are you kidding?”

That is the question I can’t help asking every time I think of poor, poor, poor Jammie Thomas-Rasset.

I don’t know Thomas-Rasset. Maybe she’s mean. Maybe she’s a werewolf. Maybe she smells of old cheese on a hot summer’s day.

Don’t know.

All I know is that Thomas-Rasset got hosed by a very wealthy industry and a federal jury full of obvious rubes.

Last week, the jury of nitwits fined the Minnesota mom of four $1.9 million for illegally sharing 24 songs on the Internet site Kazaa.

It is wrong to illegally share songs — few can dispute that — but come on, $1.9 million?

That verdict would raise eyebrows even if Thomas shared Green Day’s “American Idiot” two million times, and I love that song.

The Recording Industry Association of America, the organization that sued Thomas-Rasset, is not Erin Brockovich here.

It’s not fighting for safe water wells or even the rights of musicians, producers and the likes.

They are ravenous vampires — unlike the hot vampires in “Twilight.”

These so-and-so’s have blue veins, horns and crooked fangs.

Their moles are hairy and they don’t say “excuse me” when burping up human flesh.

If you haven’t figured it out, I think $1.9 million against Thomas-Rasset for sharing copies of songs by the likes of No Doubt, Linkin Park, Gloria Estefan, Green Day and Sheryl Crow was a “little much.”

Despite what you hear on “Boston Legal,” few verdicts for what amounts to theft are that high.

To put things in perspective, Brockovich helped win $333 million from Pacific Gas and Electric Co. for more than 600 residents of Hinkley, Calif. To get the loot, all those folks (or their relatives) had to do was get sick or die from exposure to toxic Chromium 6.

Not one bank can be bailed out for $1.9 million, but it is nothing to laugh off.

How many dollar-store items can you get for that sort of money? 1.9 million.

This was the second time Thomas-Rasset went to court for the sharing of songs. A federal jury, ones with a brain of sorts, hit Thomas-Rasset with a $222,000 judgment in 2007. A judge threw out that verdict, deciding he gave incorrect instructions to the jury.

Thomas-Rasset isn’t the only one to be sued for record piracy.

The cocky, heartless vampires have sued more than 30,000 people.

Thomas-Rasset was the only one to fight back in court, denying the charges and saying her children or ex-husband may have shared the music, according to an Associated Press/CBS News article.

The others settled out of court, paying about $3,500 for each song, according to the Associated Press.

Thomas-Rasset and her attorneys plan to appeal, saying the verdict was unconstitutional and “disproportionate to any harm,” the AP/CBS article said.

If reason doesn’t rule, the next jury will have Thomas-Rasset canned, flogged and delivered in a gift-wrapped coffin to the vampires’ castle.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2000 or arobinson@Dayton DailyNews.com.

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