Judge Tosses $2 Million Jury Verdict for Downloading 24 Songs as "Simply Shocking"

From Capitol Records Inc. v. Thomas-Rasset, 680 F.Supp.2d 1045, 1054 (D.Minn. 2010)

The Court has considered the strong need for deterrence in this particular case, the difficulty in quantifying the damages caused by the chain effect of Thomas-Rasset's distribution of copyrighted sound recordings over the Internet, the large scale damages caused by online piracy in aggregate, and the substantial impediments to identifying and pursuing infringers. However, despite the combination of these justifications and the Court's deference to the jury's verdict, $2 million for stealing 24 songs for personal use is simply shocking. No matter how unremorseful Thomas-Rasset may be, assessing a $2 million award against an individual consumer for use of Kazaa is unjust. Even Plaintiffs admit that Thomas-Rasset is unlikely to ever be able to pay such an award. Having determined that the current verdict is so shocking that it must be remitted, the Court next faces the task of assessing the proper amount of remittitur