Jammie Thomas-Rasset, the Minnesota mother recently found guilty of willful copyright infringement, has filed a formal request for a new trial, or barring that, relief from what her lawyers describe as the "grossly excessive" $1.92 million in damages she's been ordered to pay the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Thomas-Rasset, 32, was in June found guilty of copyright infringement against the RIAA after illegally downloading songs by artists such as Green Day and Sheryl Crow. She was originally tried -- and found liable -- back in 2007, but a mistrial was declared in late 2008 thanks to a judge's error in issuing jury instructions.
The new RIAA trial didn't end so well for Thomas-Rasset, however, who has been ordered to pay $80,000 for each of the 24 copryrighted songs she is said to have downloaded through file sharing service Kazaa.
Now, Thomas-Rasset's lawyers will try to get her a new trial, or at least see that fine reduced. Her attorneys, Joe Sibley and Kiwi Camara, on Monday filed a motion in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota on the grounds that the $1.92 million ruling is "grossly excessive" and unconstitutional.
"The judgment is grossly excessive and therefore, subject to remittitur as a matter of federal common law. Moreover, such a judgment is inconsistent with the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution," wrote her lawyers in the Minnesota court filing.
The RIAA hasn't commented on the motion for a retrial or reduced fine, but last week, RIAA spokesman Jonathan Lamy said in a statement that "what's increasingly clear, now more than ever, is that she is the one responsible for needlessly prolonging this case and refusing to accept any responsibility for the illegal activity that two juries decisively found her liable for."
The Jammie Thomas-Rasset trial is an example of a technique the RIAA says it's moving away from with regard to stemming the tide of illegal file sharing -- that is, it's trying to focus less on individual copyright violators and more on the services that enable the file sharing.
The RIAA recently collected another victory over file hosting service Usenet on similar copyright violation grounds. And BitTorrent giant The Pirate Bay was earlier this year found guilty of assisting copyright infringement and is now awaiting its fate as a subscription-based content sharing service following news that it would be acquired by a Swedish software development company.
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