The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) – who represent major labels Universal, Sony, and Warner – are asking a high-profile file-sharer to add insult to injury, offering a bargain to the Minnesota woman to publicly campaign against music piracy in exchange for an unspecified reduction of her sentence, as Wired reports.
Jammie Thomas-Rasset, the woman who was successfully sued for $US 222,000 after being found guilty of sharing 24 copyrighted songs on P2P service Kazaa last year, has been offered a reduction of her Supreme Court-issued punishment by the RIAA if she publicly decries the evils of file-sharing.
However, the 36-year-old-mother of four has told the RIAA’s lobbying and litigation arm she would “rather go bankrupt” than acquiesce to the record industry’s demands, telling Wired simply, “I’m not doing it.”
Attorney Michael Wilson confirms the RIAA’s suggestion to his client, saying “the record industry was offering a kind of a public statement as a possible supplement so she wouldn’t have to pay the full amount,” but that the RIAA offered “no specifics” as to the reduction of her $222,000 penalty. The 36-year-old-mother of four has told the RIAA’s lobbying and litigation arm she would “rather go bankrupt” than acquiesce to the record industry’s demands.
“It was kind of a general idea, nothing concrete,” added Mr Wilson. “I would assume it would be something along those lines: anti-piracy and culpability.” But that Thomas-Rasset was “pretty opposed” to giving the record industry body an such satisfaction with a public anti-piracy statement or campaign.
Thomas-Rasset, who earns a small wage working for a local Native American tribe in their natural resources department, is exploring the possibility of filing for bankruptcy protection at the suggestion of her Attorney, in order to stave off having to pay the $222k damages.
Thomas-Rasset was first accused of wilful copyright violation in 2006 by the RIAA, in one of only two lawsuits to go to trial out of the 30,000 filed by the major label representative, before being dragged in and out of courts for six years.
Last September, the RIAA noted they were “pleased with the appellate court’s decision” to slap Thomas-Rasset with a $222K fine. In March 2013, as Wired reports, Supreme Court judges declined to review an appeal from the Minnesota woman that claimed the $222,000 in damages was ‘unconstitutionally excessive’ and was not ‘rationally related’ to the damage she had caused to music labels.
In response, RIAA spokesperson Jonathan Lamy issued a public statement that reads:
We continue to try to resolve this case in a reasonable way. In the past, for example, we have reached out to Ms. Thomas to settle the case in exchange for a contribution to a local music charity. We have communicated to Ms. Thomas that we would consider a variety of non-monetary settlement options, which is up to her to offer. We think this is a gesture of a good will and we’re doing what we can to resolve this case in a manner that works for everyone.”
While many of the RIAA’s anti-piracy lawsuits against individuals quietly settle out of court, Ms Thomas-Rasset was one of the first to gain attention for standing her ground and challenging the major label lawsuit at trial.
A similar case, involving former Boston University student, Joel Tenenbaum, saw him also challenging an RIAA lawsuit at trial over a damages award of $675,000 in May 2012, but last month a federal appeal upheld the refusal to hear an appeal against the $675K fine for illegally sharing 30 songs.
