Physorg.com
(AP) — A federal judge has drastically reduced a nearly $2 million verdict against a Minnesota woman found guilty last year of sharing 24 songs over the Internet.
U.S. District Judge Michael Davis says in his ruling Friday that the $1.92 million penalty a jury imposed against Jammie Thomas-Rasset of Brainerd was “monstrous and shocking.” He reduced it to $2,250 per song, or about $54,000.
Davis wrote in his ruling he would have liked to reduce it further but was limited in doing so. He says the new penalty is still “significant and harsh.”
It’s about time.
Does this all mean that I can’t give away my
record collection, my CD collection, My Cassette tape collection to whom ever I please
without running afoul of the RIAA lawyers?
If I paid for the music on my computer, can I
give it all away to anybody?
If my canned music is not my property to do with as I please, then I might as well stop buying it and just steal it.