June 15, 2009

Jammie Thomas-Rasset Part Deux, Day 1. An encouraging first day. After a morning of jury selection, the jury was seated by lunch (five men, seven women) and opening arguments kicked off the afternoon. We’re very pleased with the jury. My favorite highlight of the day was the juror who, during jury selection process, noted that he used LimeWire once to get music illegally – but stopped immediately because he “didn’t want to get caught and be here.” How’s THAT for deterrence value of our lawsuit program?? Doesn’t get much better than that folks…!

As for the opening arguments, Tim Reynolds did an eloquent and thorough job laying out our side and the vast amount of evidence in this case that proves Ms. Thomas-Rasset’s liability. The other side focused on the claim that she didn’t do it and used astronomical numbers to illustrate the amount we are seeking in damages.   Let us quickly take a moment to repeat this:  we have NEVER asked for maximum statutory damages in these cases and we are not starting now. We have ALWAYS let courts and juries decide the amount of damages to award for any case that reaches this far stage.  

Several witnesses gave testimony today – Wade Leak from Sony Music Entertainment (who testified to the thousands of individuals that have lost their jobs in the music community primarily due to online theft), Chris Connelly from MediaSentry (who testified that his company detected Ms. Thomas-Rasset’s KaZaA account – tereastarr@kazaa.com – distributing more than 1700 music files on Feb. 21, 2005 and subsequently sent her two instant messages to warn her about copyright infringement), and Heather Nessler from Charter Communications (who testified that upon receipt of a court-approved subpoena, Charter verified and re-verified that the Internet account used to engage in copyright infringrment was Ms. Thomas-Rasset’s account). We’re beginning to see how the defense is attempting to take shape – by tediously objecting (more than 20 times!!!) mostly to suppress evidence which clearly proves Ms. Thomas-Rasset downloaded and distributed music files illegally.   We are hopeful the jury will see these attempts as desperate and diversionary.  

Perhaps the richest moment of the day probably came when the defense counsel attempted to strike the certifications of copyright we procured and provided to prove ownership of the songs at issue on the grounds that it was “too late.”  Given the defendant entered a brand new, affirmative defense only two weeks ago, her attorney’s insistence that our timing was bad induced a few eye rolls among members of the media that have followed this case and our legal team. Suffice to say, the Judge allowed the certified copyrights.

Next up for Tuesday: testimony from our expert witness, music company executives, and the defendant herself.  It will surely be an interesting next couple of days. Stay tuned…

(p.s. – for some added flavor, the title of this post is one of the songs Ms. Thomas-Rasset was caught distributing through her KaZaA account…)

Cara Duckworth

Also, a good recap of today’s events in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.