• by Douglas Quenqua , October 8, 2007

The recording industry scored a major victory in its fight against unauthorized file sharing last week when a federal district court in Duluth, Minn. found a local woman guilty of copyright infringement. But an attorney representing others being sued by the Recording Industry Association of America predicts the "irrational" ruling will be overturned on appeal.

The jury awarded the plaintiffs $222,000, or $9,250 for every song Jammie Thomas allegedly uploaded to Kazaa.

The case was the first of thousands of lawsuits brought by the RIAA and its members over the past four years to receive a jury trial. Most of these cases have either been settled or dropped.

The verdict comes as illegal downloading is on the rise and CD sales continue to plummet--down by more than 30% in the U.S. since 2001, by some estimates.

A statement released by the RIAA welcomed the verdict, and said it would continue to pursue legal action against those who share music illegally.

"When the evidence is clear, we will continue to bring legal actions against those individuals who have broken the law," it said. "This program is important to securing a level playing field for legal online music services and helping ensure that record companies are able to invest in new bands of tomorrow."

The defendant's lawyer did not return a call for comment. However, Ray Beckerman, a lawyer with Vandenberg & Feliu, LLP, who represents others being sued by the RIAA, said the outcome was "irrational" and would likely be overturned on appeal.

"This is a $222,000 verdict for $23.76 worth of song files, of which the plaintiff's revenue would have been about $16," he said. The defense maintained throughout the trial that Thomas, a single mother of three, was not the one using her account when the 24 songs in question were uploaded to the site, but that it had been hacked into by an unknown third party.

According to reports of the trial, the judge originally instructed the jury that making a file available for download did not constitute copyright infringement, but later reversed himself. Beckerman, who maintains a blog that closely followed the trial, said the final instructions were "grossly erroneous."

Whether the verdict has a chilling effect on illegal downloading remains to be seen, but Beckerman predicted that it could weaken the resolve of others being sued by the music industry.

"People who are fearful and timid will be even more fearful and timid and will pay the extortion money instead of fighting," he said.