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File-sharing verdict doesn't settle issue
If no one picked up copied songs, was copyright violated?

By JOSHUA FREED
Associated Press


MINNEAPOLIS — Jammie Thomas makes $36,000 a year but says she isn't looking for a handout to pay a $222,000 judgment after a jury decided she illegally shared music online and did it on purpose.

"I'm not going to ask for financial help," she said Friday. But she added, "If it comes, I'm not going to turn it down, either."

The recording industry won two victories with that verdict.

Beyond the money, the industry added to a growing body of legal precedents holding that making copyright-protected songs available online, even without proof that the songs went anywhere, infringes on the copyrights for the songs.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael Davis was planning to instruct jurors as they began their deliberations that record companies would have to prove someone copied the songs to show copyright infringement, but record company attorney Richard Gabriel cited cases where making songs available was found to be infringement.

Legal experts said the question isn't settled.

Andrew Bridges, an attorney who has argued for the Computer & Communications Industry Association that copyright holders should have to prove the offered material is actually used, said, "Record labels don't like that because it's harder to prove.

Bridges said, "It's all about whether they get a free pass to impose onerous damages on people without actually having to prove a case."

International intellectual property treaties assume that simply making a work of art available can violate the copyright, said Jane C. Ginsburg, an intellectual law professor at Columbia Law School.

"It would be hard to see how we could be living up to our international obligations if the law were interpreted differently," she said.

Penalty may scare others

Record labels have sued more than 26,000 people they accuse of downloading and offering music for sharing online in violation of copyright laws. Many of those people have settled by paying the companies a few thousand dollars.

Thomas was the first person to fight back all the way to a trial. Six major record companies accused Thomas of offering 1,702 songs on the Kazaa file-sharing network. At trial, they focused on 24 songs and jurors decided Thursday that Thomas willfully violated the copyright on all 24. They recommended she pay damages of $9,250 per song, $222,000.

Ray Beckerman, an attorney who has represented people sued by the record companies, said the companies used one case where there was a $22,500 default judgment to scare people into settling.

"Now, look at this. This is 10 times better. They can talk about this case, they can use it for frightening people," he said.

Beckerman said the damage award was disproportionate to the price of the 24 songs Thomas was accused of sharing for free. She could have bought them for 99 cents each on a legal download site, he said.

Record company lawyer Richard Gabriel argued at trial that Thomas made the songs available to millions of users on Kazaa.

File-sharing rises anyway

The lawsuits have cost more than they've brought in.

The Recording Industry Association of America has said it wants the suits to send a message that downloading music illegally is risky, but the number of people sharing files online has risen 69 percent to almost 9.4 million since 2003 when the lawsuits began, according to BigChampagne LLC, research firm that tracks file-sharing traffic.

That suggests the publicity has had a limited effect in deterring people from swapping music online, said Eric Garland, CEO of BigChampagne.

Record companies "don't want to be on the front page battling a lot of customers," Garland said. "They want to be on the front page selling a lot of Kanye (West) records."

Thomas denied that the Kazaa account at issue during the trial was hers. Neither side presented the computer hard drive Thomas owned in 2004 and 2005, which she allegedly use to download and offer the songs.

Thomas said Friday that people who heard about the verdict have been leaving messages on her MySpace page offering to help.

"I guess it's my Native pride," said Thomas, who is a member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. "Up until this point I have not held my hand out and asked for financial assistance from anyone."

Thomas, 30, works for the Mille Lacs band coordinating a federal grant for cleaning up contaminated land. She said she doesn't have the means to pay.

"I am a single mother of two boys. I make $36,000 a year at my job," she said. "At best they could try and get a court order garnisheeing my wages."

'She's going to pay'

Her attorney, Brian Toder, said that copyright law automatically awards court costs and attorney fees to the winning party.

Paying those, too, could push the total judgment against Thomas as high as a half-million dollars.

Recording Industry Association of America spokeswoman Cara Duckworth declined to comment on the group's plans for enforcing the judgment.

Thomas questioned whether the record companies will be able to enforce the verdict because she is an enrolled member of the Mille Lacs band, lives on its land and works for the band.

Kevin Washburn, who teaches American Indian Law as a visiting associate professor at Harvard Law School, said tribal courts generally enforce judgments from other courts. And since this is a federal verdict, the tribal courts might not even have a say in enforcing the verdict.

"One way or another she's got to pay," he said.


Bill Anderson Visits w/ The Legends On XM Radio

TUESDAY
Part of Country Music Month!
Bill Anderson Visits w/ The Legends: Gene Watson
America - XM 10 I Noon ET 
 
Subject: press release: Dustin Neighbors Brings Dollie Back


With acts of such clout as Carl Perkins in its annals, Dollie Recordings is the current manifestation of the label Jim Denny formed in the '50s and named for his wife. John Denny literally grew up with this family entity and has kept his ears open for "the right artist" to bring the label back into activity. "Dustin Neighbors is the act I've been looking for," states Denny; "he's laidback and real in the sense of Bobby Bare, Don Williams, and Randy Travis, but doesn't sound like anybody!"

Concerning the update of the label's name, Denny notes, "Technology is changing so fast, I don't know HOW we will distribute recorded music next week or next year, but they will still be "recordings," even if not "records" as we have known that term. Within that context, the new Dustin Neighbors album, "Circle Of Friends," is available at http://www.dollierecordings.com/index.html for sample listening and paid downloads.

Media interviews can be arranged through Ken Pearson, http://www.bluespringsmusic.com , Bill Littleton at http://www.BillLittleton@unclewillamsplace.com , or John Denny at the Dollie Recordings website or 615-269-4847.

Dustin Neighbors

The magic of country music is that it reflects a changing society while anchored in an older, kinder, gentler origin. None of the younger artists have missed the influence of loud rock with sometimes-violent themes, yet some of the individual personalities really harken back to simpler, easier-to-listen-to music with lyrics celebrating honor along with loneliness and heartbreak. If you’re making a list of such artists, put Dustin Neighbors up close to the top. When you listen to his album, “Circle Of Friends,” you’ll move him on up on your own.

Born in Anniston, Alabama but growing up in such diverse places as Iceland, the South Carolina coast, and West Florida while his father was in the military, music has been part of his life from the getgo – indeed, soaking up rock and roll from his dad, country from his mom, and bluegrass from his grandfather. “I don’t know much of anything but music,” Dustin deadpans, leaving little doubt that such a “deficit” does not bother him overly.

The factor that overrides any limitation one might presume is the natural grace and honesty he brings to his music. Whether working with a band in a club, solo at an outdoor festival, or in the studio with top-flight personnel, the let-me-show-you-how-this-works-without-breaking-a-sweat aura classically associated with Bobby Bare, Don Williams, and Randy Travis rises in the music like morning mist on the Coosa River – it’s not easy to explain but we know it’s there.

Combine that laid-back attitude with a variety of songs (note: NOT a variety of genres – this is all country) that touch emotional levels of us all at some point, and we have an important mainstream debut. Enhancing the outing are the musicians, all invited by producer John Denny because of their musical abilities AND their presence in his life as special friends, therefore the album title, “Circle Of Friends.” Doyle Grisham plays pedal steel, dobro, and rhythm guitar; John Rees is on keyboards; John Root handles drums and percussion; Tom Wild plays lead guitar; while David Russell doubles on fiddle and mandolin and Toni Seahauzer is on bass. Vocal back up is provided by John Frost and Jennifer O’Brien.

Dustin has worked with Ken Pearson’s Bluesprings Music Group for the past two years, putting the pieces together for an opportunity to let the general public in on this magic music. The time is now.