Thomas all set to appeal the $220,000 RIAA payment

Ms. Thomas has decided to appeal the verdict that will cost her $222,000. Thomas was ordered to pay the RIAA $220,000 for copyright violations related to sharing 24 songs over Kazaa. Ms. Thomas announced the decision to appeal on her Myspace blog where she claimed “This would stop the RIAA dead in their tracks”.

Thomas and her attorney plan to appeal based on the federal jury’s finding that making songs available online violates copyright. Thomas was actually found to have made the songs available for download, no evidence was provided that any of the 24 songs had actually been downloaded from her computer.

“Every single suit they have brought has been based on this making-available theory, and if we can win this appeal, they would actually have to prove a file was shared.”

Now, the appeal will come down to whether or not its “sharing” based on making them available or if someone actually has to download them. Personally I side for the making them available, because by making them available then you would (or should) just assume that someone will download. This is the first time the RIAA has won a jury trial verdict and a reversal would set a bad precedent for any future trials.

Read [Crave]