We weren’t the only ones who felt that way. On Friday, Minneapolis federal district court judge Michael Davis cut the damage award against Jammie Thomas-Rasset from $80,000 per song to $2,250, for a new damages total of $54,000. Davis’s 38-page ruling is something of a cri de coeur from the judge, who previously vacated a $220,000 award against Thomas-Rasset.
“The need for deterrence cannot justify a $2 million verdict for stealing and illegally distributing 24 songs for the sole purpose of obtaining free music,” Judge Davis wrote. The judge said he was bound by the jury’s decision to punish Thomas-Rasset with maximum damages, but had to fashion an award that “does not veer into the realm of gross injustice.” His solution–to treble the statutory minimum of $750 per illegal download to reflect the jury’s finding of willful infringement–”merely reduced that award to the maximum amount that is no longer monstrous and shocking,” he wrote.
