Capitol Records v. Thomas-Rasset
United States District Court for the District of Minnesota
680 F. Supp. 2d 1045 (2010)
- Written by Kelli Lanski, JD
Facts
Jammie Thomas-Rasset (defendant) downloaded 24 songs from the internet for personal use using a song-sharing website called Kazaa. Thomas-Rasset had bought copies of the music on compact discs that she copied and uploaded. She was sued by Capitol Records Inc. (Capitol) (plaintiff) for civil copyright infringement. A jury found for Capitol and set damages at $222,000; however, the district court vacated the jury’s decision and remanded the case for a new trial due to concerns about the jury instructions. After a second trial, the jury found for Capitol again, awarding $1,920,000 in damages. Thomas-Rasset appealed, and the judge reviewed the damages amount using the remittitur procedure. Thomas-Rasset argued that each song cost only $1.29 to download online, making the damages amount excessively high. Capitol argued that online piracy of music cost the recording industry billions of dollars, justifying the jury award.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Davis, C.J.)
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