10-04-2007, 04:41 PM
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#1
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Scoring Winger
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Downloading music costs woman $220,000
Steep price per song! Crazy Americans.
Quote:
JOSHUA FREED
Associated Press
October 4, 2007 at 6:08 PM EDT
DULUTH, Minn. — The recording industry won a key fight Thursday against illegal music downloading when a federal jury found a Minnesota woman shared copyrighted music online and levied $220,000 in damages against her.
The jury ordered Jammie Thomas, 30, to pay the six record companies that sued her $9,250 for each of 24 songs they focused on in the case. They had alleged she shared 1,702 songs in all.
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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...echnology/home
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10-04-2007, 04:56 PM
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#2
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Retired
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Ouch.... that really sucks. I was thinking it would be nearly impossible to get a jury to impose that kind of penalty on someone downloading or sharing songs, seems I was wrong.
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10-04-2007, 04:59 PM
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#3
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Franchise Player
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Vancouver
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Is it still legal in Canada to download music?
__________________
"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
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10-04-2007, 05:04 PM
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#4
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Ate 100 Treadmills
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction
Is it still legal in Canada to download music?
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Its never been illegal to download. Only to distribute. The courts have so far rule that having something available for download on your computer that is accessed through a program like limewire etc.. does not count as actively distributing.
Even if they changed the law in Canada, it is unlikely a record company would ever pursue a suit. Damages in Canada are limited to actual damages. So the most they could ever get from you is the amount the person would have paid for the song. Which is like 99 cents. I suppose if you could prove that you were responsible for distributing to thousands the record company might pursue. Then you would need some proof that those people would have bought the song if it wasn't offered for free....
The long story short, I doubt a record company in Canada would ever bother, because Canadian courts are a lot tighter on awarding damages.
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10-04-2007, 05:04 PM
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#5
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Franchise Player
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Violating Copyrights
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction
Is it still legal in Canada to download music?
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Not legal, more like loophole.
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10-04-2007, 05:09 PM
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#6
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Franchise Player
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Quote:
Originally Posted by blankall
Its never been illegal to download. Only to distribute. The courts have so far rule that having something available for download on your computer that is accessed through a program like limewire etc.. does not count as actively distributing.
Even if they changed the law in Canada, it is unlikely a record company would ever pursue a suit. Damages in Canada are limited to actual damages. So the most they could ever get from you is the amount the person would have paid for the song. Which is like 99 cents. I suppose if you could prove that you were responsible for distributing to thousands the record company might pursue. Then you would need some proof that those people would have bought the song if it wasn't offered for free....
The long story short, I doubt a record company in Canada would ever bother, because Canadian courts are a lot tighter on awarding damages.
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Obviously I'm no expert in this area of the law and none of this should be taken as legal advice with respect to whether file sharing is legal in Canada.
BMG Canada Inc. v. John Doe - Record companies seeking a warrant to have Canadian ISPs reveal subscriber information to alllow the plaintiff to pursue alleged file sharers. The ISPs say shove it and the resulting application ensues. The judge doesn't allow the plaintiff's request and goes on deciding a bunch of issues that aren't exactly before him. The decision is appealed and the result stands though the Federal Court of Appeal thinks the lower court's decision was a bit premature.
Also, statutory damages are available under the Copyright Act, though they are in a much smaller amount than those available to the RIAA in the US of A:
38.1 (1) Subject to this section, a copyright owner may elect, at any time before final judgment is rendered, to recover, instead of damages and profits referred to in subsection 35(1), an award of statutory damages for all infringements involved in the proceedings, with respect to any one work or other subject-matter, for which any one infringer is liable individually, or for which any two or more infringers are liable jointly and severally, in a sum of not less than $500 or more than $20,000 as the court considers just.
Last edited by fredr123; 10-04-2007 at 05:20 PM.
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10-04-2007, 05:10 PM
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#7
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: @robdashjamieson
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It's because of Canada's 'laws' on copyright that we can't watch shows on Amercian channels websites, or puchase TV Shows or Movies off itunes or XBOX Live. That slightly pisses me off.
I know how to get around that the Canadian way, but I wouldn't mind eliminating the hassle, and just buying the stuff.
__________________
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10-04-2007, 07:00 PM
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#8
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#1 Goaltender
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Not sure
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Deletes bittorrent...
Wipes hdd for good measure
__________________
Quote:
Originally posted by Bingo.
Maybe he hates cowboy boots.
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10-04-2007, 08:12 PM
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#9
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Franchise Player
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: in your blind spot.
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I've been following this case. She still denies that it was her, but the evidence was pretty damning.
__________________
"The problem with any ideology is that it gives the answer before you look at the evidence."
—Bill Clinton
"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance--it is the illusion of knowledge."
—Daniel J. Boorstin, historian, former Librarian of Congress
"But the Senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity"
—WKRP in Cincinatti
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10-04-2007, 11:06 PM
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#10
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Franchise Player
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Violating Copyrights
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bobblehead
I've been following this case. She still denies that it was her, but the evidence was pretty damning.
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What was the evidence? Did her ISP rat her out?
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10-05-2007, 01:13 AM
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#11
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Franchise Player
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: The C-spot
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Canadian P2P users got a kick in the junk this week when Demonoid -- supposedly the second largest torrent site in the world -- shut its doors to Canadian users due to a lawsuit from the CRIA.
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10-05-2007, 06:26 AM
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#12
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First Line Centre
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Calgary
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Barnes
What was the evidence? Did her ISP rat her out?
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Yeah, her ISP testified against her.
Also her defence was "You can't prove it was me on my computer (and not a robot) that shared those files."
She also said she didn't have the files on her HD, but it was later found out that she had actually trashed her HD about a month after the notice was served, and not before as she claimed.
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10-05-2007, 07:27 AM
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#13
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Franchise Player
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Calgary
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Five-hole
Canadian P2P users got a kick in the junk this week when Demonoid -- supposedly the second largest torrent site in the world -- shut its doors to Canadian users due to a lawsuit from the CRIA.
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yes because theres no way around that one 
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10-05-2007, 08:30 AM
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#14
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Had an idea!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Prottotype
It's because of Canada's 'laws' on copyright that we can't watch shows on Amercian channels websites, or puchase TV Shows or Movies off itunes or XBOX Live. That slightly pisses me off.
I know how to get around that the Canadian way, but I wouldn't mind eliminating the hassle, and just buying the stuff.
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Or they could simply provide a different way for Canadians to download TV shows or Movies at a charge.
Not that hard to set up.
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10-05-2007, 08:31 AM
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#15
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Had an idea!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Five-hole
Canadian P2P users got a kick in the junk this week when Demonoid -- supposedly the second largest torrent site in the world -- shut its doors to Canadian users due to a lawsuit from the CRIA.
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There are a million other torrent sites out there....many of which get files directly from Demonoid.
the CRIA can go screw themselves.
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10-05-2007, 09:21 AM
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#16
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First Line Centre
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: /dev/null
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If the woman was actively distributing the music, I have no issue with this. Aside from the total, but there isn't much anyone can do to fix the American legal system short of a revolution (hint hint,  )
I'm just glad bit-torrent doesn't count as distribution. As long as you don't host the torrent file, you're fine. And even if you host the torrent, it would be hard to convince anyone that you are distributing the files themselves.
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10-05-2007, 09:25 AM
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#17
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Franchise Player
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: in your blind spot.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Barnes
What was the evidence? Did her ISP rat her out?
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As Requiem said, yeah, the ISP had reams of info. The defense tried to create doubt, saying maybe there was a wireless connection that was used, and so on, but there were experts saying that based on the ISP logs no way was it a wireless router.
She replaced her hard drive after she received notice of infringement. She claims it was based on a recommendation from BestBuy, but she was a year of on her dates so that looked shady. She definitely knew about Kazaa and file sharing because in university a few years earlier she had done a paper on Napster.
But I think the most damning piece of evidence was the account name. For Kazaa it was Tereastarr@kazaa.com, but she also uses "tereastarr" for he email, IM and MySpaces page.
The jury awarded $9,250 for each of 24 songs (even though the folder in question held thousands of songs) and said the infringement was "willful".
__________________
"The problem with any ideology is that it gives the answer before you look at the evidence."
—Bill Clinton
"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance--it is the illusion of knowledge."
—Daniel J. Boorstin, historian, former Librarian of Congress
"But the Senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity"
—WKRP in Cincinatti
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10-05-2007, 09:37 AM
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#18
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#1 Goaltender
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Calgary...Alberta, Canada
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So it's not the downloading that cost her, but her sharing with other users?
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