Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Associated Press Report on Day 2 of Virgin v. Thomas

Josh Freed of Associated Press has been providing excellent coverage of the trial. Here is an excerpt from his report on Day 2 of Virgin v. Thomas:

Music Sharing Trial Continues in Minn.

By JOSHUA FREED
The Associated Press
Wednesday, October 3, 2007; 6:14 PM

DULUTH, Minn. -- A Minnesota woman, who record companies say illegally shared music online, testified in federal court Wednesday that she didn't do it, though she acknowledged giving conflicting dates for the replacement of her computer hard drive.
........

Thomas's is the first trial in 26,000 similar cases brought by record companies against individuals across the country..........

Thomas said before the trial, which began Tuesday, that her hard drive was replaced in 2004, but she agreed Wednesday that it actually was replaced on March 9, 2005.

...............

She testified under questioning from record company lawyer Richard Gabriel that while pursuing a college degree in marketing, she did a case study on the original Napster file-sharing program and concluded that it was not illegal. A judge ruled in 2001 that it was.

She acknowledged she listened to _ or owned CDs released by _ more than 60 of the artists whose music was in the Kazaa file-sharing folder at the heart of the case. Thomas denied the folder was hers.

"Did you ever have Kazaa on your computer?" Thomas's attorney, Brian Toder, asked her.

"No," Thomas said.
.....................
A worker from Best Buy Co.'s Geek Squad service testified that Thomas' hard drive was replaced under an extended warranty plan in 2005 that would generally have required her approval. But under cross-examination by Toder, the worker said he didn't have a record of her approving the replacement.

During cross-examinations of record company witnesses, Toder has raised doubts that the companies can prove it was Thomas who downloaded and shared the 1,702 songs.
Complete article at WashingtonPost.com



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