Thomas-Rasset to RIAA: Drop dead

There seems to be no end in sight for the court battle between Jammie Thomas-Rasset and the music industry, as both sides have rejected a lower fine from the courts for copyright infringement.

Thomas-Rasset was convicted last year of downloading and distributing 24 songs over the Internet. It was her second conviction, after the first trial ended in a mistrial. Last week, a court reduced Thomas-Rasset’s fine from $1.9 million to $54,000, ruling that the initial fine set by a jury was “simply shocking” and too much for an individual to pay.

It seemed like a break for Thomas-Rasset, who’s been fighting with the Recording Industry Association of America since 2007. But it turns out neither side was interested in the court’s latest ruling.

The RIAA offered Thomas-Rasset a settlement of $25,000 — lower, even, than what the court decided upon — but in exchange she’d have to vacate the court’s ruling. As a result, judge Michael Davis wouldn’t be on the record saying the original fine was too high. Therefore, his decision might not affect other cases, such as that of Joel Tenenbaum, who faces a fine of $675,000 for file sharing. In other words, the RIAA doesn’t want to set a precedent that fines in the millions, or hundreds of thousands, are excessive.

Thomas-Rasset, whose attorneys said they’re still shooting for a fine of $0, obviously isn’t taking the deal. That could mean a third trial, dragging this case on for at least another year, maybe longer.

Thomas-Rasset’s lawyers want to stick it to the RIAA (one of them, Kiwi Camara, spoke of filing a class-action suit against the trade group), so I can see why they’d want to drag this case out. What’s silly is that the precedent the RIAA wants to avoid doesn’t even matter anymore. The trade group has supposedly stopped suing illegal file sharers and is now focusing on getting Internet service providers to kick pirates off the Internet. And last I checked, it’s getting some traction. This message that the RIAA is trying to send — if you get caught sharing music, you’ll get sued for millions — is not only expensive, it’s pointless.