US DOJ stands up for copyright fines

The United Stated Department of Justice (DOJ) has come out in defence of the $1.92 million fine levied against a US woman who illegally downloaded 24 songs.

In a brief published late last week, the DOJ said that the decision against Jammie Thomas-Rasset was not excessive and should serve as an example to prevent others from downloading music illegally.

"The federal copyright statute, enacted by the First Congress and subject to numerous revisions since that time, has consistently authorized the awarding of statutory damages to ensure significant monetary awards in copyright infringement lawsuits that will make copyright owners whole and deter further infringement," wrote the DOJ.

"This historical approach is followed in the current version of the Sopyright Act's statutory damages provision: it provides compensation to copyright owners who have to invest resources into protecting property that is often unquantifiable in value and deters those infringing parties who think they will go undetected in committing this serious public wrong."

The DOJ's filing was part of the ongoing battle between Thomas-Rasset and Capital Records.

In 2007, Thomas-Rasset was fined $224,000 for downloading and sharing two dozen song files on Kazaa. Following an appeal, a new jury awarded the label a $1.92 million decision. A new appeal is underway.

The filing could come as a disappointment to those who were expecting the DOJ to be more sympathetic to consumers and downloaders under the Obama administration.

While the administration showed early signs of promise for copyright reform with moves such as opening web sites under the Creative Commons license, the White House sided more recently with copyright holders.