The RIAA's trials are getting serious by Corina Ciubotaru

Finally, the RIAA went to trial with a person accused of sharing music illegally. After sending 4,000 pre-trial letters and suing 26,000 people, most of who settled instead of fighting against the system. One woman decided the fight is worth it and today she appeared in court to tell the jury, which includes an amateur musician, her side of the story. Jammie Thomas and her lawyer Brian Toder are determined to prove the RIAA wrong and they started by making the record companies prove that they actually own the songs and that Mrs. Thomas, aged 30, shared them over the network. She has a point and she knows it, agreeing to pay a lawyer instead of settling, and the judge has already dismissed some papers from the record companies after Toder argued they have been issued seven months too late. The plaintiffs are asking for up to $3.9 million and both Toder and Thomas are prepared to go all the way and not let themselves get bullied by the record companies. The trial is supposed to end Thursday and is held in Duluth, as this is the nearest city to Brainard, Minnesota, where Jammie Thomas lives and raises her two kids, aged 11 and 13. The RIAA represents Virgin Records, Capitol Records, Sony BMG, Arista Records, Interscope Records, Warner Bros. Records and UMG Recordings and is represented in court by attorney Richard Gabriel from Denver. They said they want to raise awareness a bit with these trials and that's why they have agreed to settle under the minimum limit imposed by the law.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071001/ap_on_hi_te/downloading_music;_ylt=AmnBhfX4FPeqf5B5__kamoas0NUE

by Corina Ciubotaru for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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