Whitney Harper, a teenage girl sued by the RIAA for downloading music over Kazaa, will have to pay substantially smaller damages than those initially demanded by the RIAA, Ars Technica reports. Judge Xavier Rodriguez ruled that RIAA-requested damages of $750 per song were inappropriate because this was a case of "innocent infringement." According to an affidavit submitted by Harper and quoted by Rodriguez in his ruling, the teenager had "no knowledge or understanding of file trading, online distribution networks, or copyright infringement" at the time of her actions and was not aware that what she was doing was illegal.
However, the judge also ruled that Harper did infringe on the RIAA's copyrights, and thus should pay a reduced fine of $200 for each of the 37 songs noted in the RIAA's motion. Harper had over 500 songs in her Kazaa share, yet only 37 songs were cited because they were discovered by MediaSentry downloads, MediaSentry screenshots, and a search of Harper's hard drive. Interestingly, the lawsuit was initially directed against Harper's father, who in all likelihood could not have been found to be "innocently infringing." Once it was discovered that the Kazaa share in question was Harper's, however, the lawsuit proceeded with her as the defendant rather than her father.
While the case represents a slight victory for the concept of "innocent infringement" and may prove useful in future RIAA cases against underage defendants, the ruling still ultimately favors the RIAA and does not measure up to the several recent cases (1 - 2 - 3) that remarkably damaged both the RIAA's arguments and its practices in filing file-sharing lawsuits.
