RIAA Loses Another Filesharing Trial

Well, the RIAA didn't technically lose the trial, but a federal judge declared a mistrial and threw out the verdict against a Kazaa user who had been ordered to pay the recording industry $222,000 for allegedly sharing music online:

U.S. District Judge Michael Davis of Duluth, Minn., declared a mistrial in the case against Thomas, who was charged in October with violating copyright law by making 24 songs available for others to download on the Kazaa network.

Davis set aside the verdict on the grounds that he misguided the jury, telling jurors that simply the act of making a copyrighted song available for sharing amounts to infringement.

Looks like that "Making Available" case that the RIAA lost back in April is setting a precedent. Just because someone made files available doesn't prove that anybody actually downloaded them.

Via Idolator.