Arguments underway in music downloading trial
The recording industry is back in a federal courtroom today, trying to prove its allegation that a Minnesota woman engaged in illegal sharing of copyrighted music on the Internet.
Attorney Tim Reynolds told a federal jury in Minneapolis Monday they'll prove that Jammie Thomas-Rasset of Brainerd illegally shared 24 songs on the Kazaa network.
While the industry is only trying to prove the downloading of a few songs, Reynolds alleges Thomas-Rasset made 1,700 songs available on Kazaa.
He says illegal downloading is costing the music industry billions of dollars and thousands of jobs.
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Defense attorney Kiwi Camara countered that the record companies can't prove that Thomas-Rasset illegally shared any songs.
This is second trial for Thomas-Rasset. She lost her first trial in 2007, when a jury in Duluth awarded the record companies $222,000.
But U.S. District Judge Michael Davis later concluded he made a mistake in his jury instructions and ordered the retrial.
This time, Judge Davis will tell jurors the record companies need to prove that someone actually downloaded the music Thomas-Rasset allegedly made available over the Internet.
Last time, he told the jury the plaintiffs didn't have to prove anyone downloaded the copyright-protected songs.
The companies suing are subsidiaries of four major recording companies.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)