Jammie Thomas, the Minnesota woman on trial for making music available in the Kazaa network, has lost her jury case and will have to pay the plaintiffs $220,000 USD (that’s $248,000 AUS). The Duluth jury held her liable for $9,250 for each of the 24 songs that were subject to the lawsuit. This is perhaps the biggest victory for the music industry in their long fight against P2P file-sharing. Forget Grokster, this is the one that people will remember.

In case you are curious, the songs are:

  • Aerosmith “Cryin'”
  • Bryan Adams “Somebody”
  • Def Leppard “Pour Some Sugar on Me”
  • Destiny’s Child “Bills, Bills, Bills”
  • Janet Jackson “Let’s What Awhile
  • Gloria Estefan “Here We Are”
  • Gloria Estefan “Coming Out of the Heart”
  • Gloria Estefan “Rhythm is Gonna Get You”
  • Goo Goo Dolls “Iris”
  • Green Day “Basket Case”
  • Guns N Roses “Welcome to the Jungle”
  • Guns N Roses “November Rain”
  • Journey “Faithfully”
  • Journey “Don’t Stop Believing”
  • Linkin Park “One Step Closer”
  • No Doubt “Bathwater”
  • No Doubt “Hella Good”
  • No Doubt “Different People.”
  • Reba McEntire “One Honest Heart”
  • Richard Marx “Now and Forever”
  • Sara McLachlan “Possession”
  • Sara McLachlan “Building a Mystery”
  • Sheryl Crow “Run Baby Run”
  • Vanessa Williams “Save the Best for Last”

I will not comment on whether this list deserves a payout equivalent to 531 iPods. Heck, I even have some of these songs on my own play list (before BPI comes after me, I own the CDs). I may be accused of being a conspiracy theorist, but I’m certain that whoever compiled that list of songs was trying to make a point (they had more than a thousand to choose from) . Perhaps the RIAA will adopt “Rhythm is Gonna Get You” as their anthem. Take it away, Gloria…

Update: I was interviewed by the Duluth News Tribune. I like the fact that I’m part of the tech-savvy world now.


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