RIAA vs. File-sharers: Single Minnesota mom hit for $9,250 per song

Since I represent a large number of the kids sued for downloading music, this news was a four alarm migraine:

Jury hits mom with $220,000 verdict for 24 songs.

Jury instruction that “offering for download” was “distribution dooms single mom to pay for world’s most expensive mix tape.

My reaction -to Jon Healey of th L.A. Times and to the Associated Press is here.

If you remember, back when they started suing customers, the RIAA said they would only go after “serious music pirates” trafficking around 10,000 songs.  The last two people to walk into my office had 100 and 120 songs.  They are treating Little Johnny Smith from a town near you as though he were a major international music publisher asking for a world-wide, all media, in-perpetuity license.

As one of my friends sings, “Hey Mr. Record Man, what’s wrong with you?  Living off your publishing from 1962.